new faces, new places

It has been a quiet spring for Seth Smith. Too quiet. The Jackson native and ex-Ole Miss star is 0-for-9 in four games with his new club, the Baltimore Orioles. But with the team’s World Baseball Classic participants heading out, Smith is expected to play more regularly in the coming days. The O’s host the Dominican Republic team today in Sarasota, Fla. Believe it or not, Smith is 34 and entering his ninth full season in the big leagues. The lefty-hitting outfielder, a .261 career hitter with 113 homers, has gone from Colorado to Oakland to San Diego to Seattle to Baltimore, which traded for him in January. Smith is coming off a productive year: He hit 16 homers and drove in a career-high 63 runs for the Mariners. He batted just .249 but put up a .342 on-base percentage. Smith likely will platoon in right field for Buck Showalter’s O’s, who made the postseason in 2016. … Mississippi State product Mitch Moreland, who also changed teams this year, is also having a quiet spring. Now with American League East heavyweight Boston after seven years in Texas, Moreland is 2-for-11 in Grapefruit League play, with three RBIs. … Jarrod Dyson, the Southwest Mississippi Community College alum, has been more impactful with his new club, Seattle. Dyson, who won a ring with Kansas City in 2015, is 6-for-17 (.353) with two RBIs, two runs and a stolen base for the M’s, who haven’t made the playoffs since 2001.