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DUNEDIN — Justin Smoak is a former American League all-star who has gone through so many swing changes in his career that he’s lost count.

So how does one of the youngest hitting coaches in the major leagues approach one of the more studious batters on the Jays roster he now oversees?

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“For me, I never played in the big leagues, so for me the only way I can build credibility is by showing them I’m willing to do whatever it takes for them,” said Guillermo Martinez, the progressive mind who replaces old school Brook Jacoby in the critical spot on the coaching roster.

“Grinding it out with them. Sweating with them. If they fail, I fail. And if they succeed, they succeed, not me.”

That attitude is already paying dividends for one of manager Charlie Montoyo’s key and more innovative hires following the blowup of most of his predecessor John Gibbons staff.

A former roving hitting instructor with the Jays, at age 34, he’s only two years the senior of Smoak. But morning, noon and approaching night, Martinez is rarely far from the batting cages at Dunedin Stadium.