Is Seth Smith the next big “Moneyball” player for the Oakland Athletics?

The A's surely would be delighted if the Ole Miss product delivered on that kind of promise. He was their most significant offseason acquisition, but got off to a slow start – hitting .197 as recently as April 30.

But Smith was hitting .367 (11 of 30) for the month of May through Tuesday night, and he swung a big bat in Oakland's 5-0 win over the L.A. Angels late Monday. He doubled and scored in the fourth inning, then hit a bases-loaded double to score a couple of runs in the fifth. 

"This is what we envisioned from him," Oakland manager Bob Melvin told MLB.com, saying the team hoped he would prove to be a valuable middle-of-the-lineup bat.

Smith, a second-round draft pick by Colorado in 2004, played his first five seasons in the Rockies' hitter-friendly environs. He's a .273 career hitter and I spent some time late Tuesday looking at his career stats to see why Oakland GM Billy Beane thought he might be worth dealing a couple of pitchers to obtain, then pay $2.4 million this season.

I wonder if it might be a matter of Smith's OPS – a stat that combines on-base percentage and slugging percentage. Smith flirted with the magic .900 number in 2009, when he hit 15 homers and had a healthy .378 OBP.

I'm no Bill James, but maybe Beane and his baseball guys saw something. That's why they get the big bucks – and why Seth Smith is enjoying a healthy payday as well.

The plot will soon thicken in Oakland when Manny Ramirez becomes eligible to join the roster after serving a 50-game drug suspension. Manny – who starts a minor-league rehab stint on Saturday – is likely to DH, which means Smith would likely get most of his at-bats in left field.

For what it's worth, Smith was a somewhat better hitter when playing in left field for Colorado over the past three seasons.  

Minnesota Twins rookie shortstop Brian Dozier, the former Itawamba AHS and Southern Miss standout, hit his first major-league home run on Sunday.

After the game, Dozier was able to get the ball back from the fan who caught it - in exchange for some autogaphed balls and a pair of batting gloves - and said he'll send it, and the pink cleats he wore on Sunday, to his mom in Fulton as a belated Mother's Day present. Story from the Twins MLB.com site here and another, more detailed version from a Fox Sports site here. And here is a story from the Star Tribune newspaper that talks more about Dozier's defense.

And here is a dandy story from the Pioneer Press newspaper - complete with a slideshow - that talks about Dozier's life growing up in Fulton and his path from there to the major leagues. It's nice work.

With a team that only reached 10 wins on Sunday - the last MLB team to double digits, the Twin Cities is embracing Brian Dozier as a feel-good story. When everything goes right, as it did on Sunday, that's easy.

Bill Hall, the veteran major leaguer from Nettleton, didn't make the New York Yankees' roster out of spring training, but now he's in the Baltimore Orioles' organization.

Hall, 32, is playing for the Triple-A Norfolk Tides. Through Wednewsday, he was hitting .241 in 11 games, with 11 runs scored and 7 RBIs.

A couple of skills might earn Hall another shot in the big leagues. He's versatile enough to play just about any infield position and has logged time as an outfielder as well. Plus, he's tearing up left-handed pitching (.444, 8 of 18 with both of his home runs) at Norfork.

It's a small sample size, but he has a .263 career batting average as a big-league pinch-hitter, another valuable skill.

By all appearances, Hall is now in the declining phase of his career. That 35-home season for Milwaukee in 2006 was the high-water mark. But it's reasonable to think that he might eventually find a home on the bench for the Orioles if they continue to contend in the AL East.

With their season already starting to slip away in the face of a 7-20 start, the Minnesota Twins are calling up shortstop Brian Dozier, the former Itawamba AHS and Southern Miss standout. The Minneapolis newspaper has a blog post here.

Dozier will join the team in time for Monday's series opener at home against the L.A. Angels. During spring training, Dozier - an eighth-round pick in 2008 out of Southern Miss - was described as "the next big thing" for the Twins franchise.

He's hitting .276 at Triple-A Rochester. Last season, he hit a combined .320 and led the Twins minor-league organization in runs scored (92) and triples (12)

The Twins aren't calling up Dozier - their 2011 minor leaguer of the year - to sit on the bench. Manager Ron Gardenhire said in a radio interview on Sunday that he plans to install Dozier as his everyday shortstop. Details here (new link), complete with some MLB video.

Minnesota, which has lost 11 of its last 13, went into Sunday's game hitting .113 on its current road trip and there are rumblings that Gardenhire could be in trouble. So all eyes will be on Dozier.