When the Blue Jays acquired Justin Smoak ahead of the 2015 season, he had played 466 games over the previous four years as the Seattle Mariners day-to-day first baseman.

In the wake of Chris Colabello’s 80-game suspension for testing positive to a banned substance, after platooning with Colabello in his first season with the Jays last year, Smoak has become an everyday first baseman again.

“I’ve played everyday before, last year was the first year I didn’t, so I’m prepared,” Smoak said.

And while the circumstances for his promotion aren’t ideal, Smoak is happy to be back where he thought he would be at the start of the season.

“There’s not really much you can say, you know what I mean? It is what it is,” he said of his teammate’s suspension. “I mean starting the year I thought I would have played a little more already — more than I have.”

Prior to Colabello’s suspension, Smoak had trailed his counterpart in plate appearances through the team’s first 17 games.

But Smoak insists he has a lot to bring as the team’s everyday first baseman now.

“Everyone knows what I offer, I’m a guy that can hit the ball out of the ballpark and at the same time play really good defensive first base, so that’s essentially it,” he said.

And on Saturday he showed it in the infield, leaning to make two stretched-out catches at first base.

After the Jays reached base on three of their first five batters in the first inning, Smoak walked on four pitches with two outs to load the bases for a Russell Martin infield single to give the Jays an early 2-1 lead.

From there, the Jays never looked back on route to a 9-3 win.

Gibbons is counting on Smoak, who has batted fifth and sixth in the order in Colabello’s absence versus the Oakland Athletics, to help jumpstart the back end of the batting order.

And while Smoak, 29, has yet to hit a home run, he is riding a .457 on-base percentage (OBP) through 35 plate appearances thanks to his 10th walk of the season.