ATLANTA -- Dominic Smith won’t likely win a ballot battle against Shohei Ohtani. But that doesn’t rule out the possibility of the Braves designated hitter experiencing the thrill of going from non-roster invitee to All-Star during the same year.
Smith strengthened his All-Star resume and further endeared himself to Braves fans during a 6-3 win over the Pirates on Saturday afternoon at Truist Park. The veteran left-handed hitter highlighted his two-hit day with an opposite-field home run during the decisive three-run fifth.
“He's just a good hitter,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “He's in a really good place. He's got a plan. You can see it and he executes it. He’s been huge for us.”
Weiss entered this season intent on utilizing many different players in the designated hitter’s spot. Smith’s production has prevented him from doing this when the opposing team is starting a right-handed pitcher. The 30-year-old has hit .309 with six home runs and an .830 OPS through his first 149 plate appearances of the season.
Kyle Schwarber and Ohtani are the top candidates to serve as the National League’s designated hitters during this year’s All-Star Game. But it’s worth noting that Smith ranks second in batting average (with at least 20 ABs) and sixth in OPS among NL DHs.
“I put a lot of work in, so I'm very confident in my game,” Smith said. “I’m just getting the freedom to play and it's a great group of guys in that locker room who not only want to win, but they want to go out and compete at a high level. You feed off of that, and it's fun.”
Smith’s latest homer was a two-run shot that stayed just inside the left-field foul pole. He also singled ahead of Austin Riley’s RBI double in the two-run first. His ninth multi-hit game of the season backed Spencer Strider, who battled to limit the Pirates to three runs over five innings.
“I think I was probably begging for that ball to stay fair just as much as he was,” Riley said. “I had like the perfect view of it from the on-deck [circle] ... and I was just trying to keep it fair.”
As the Braves have produced MLB’s best record, they have benefited from the star power provided by the likes of Chris Sale and Matt Olson. But what has made this team whole has been the consistent production delivered by underdogs like Mauricio Dubón and Smith.
Smith signed with the Braves after Spring Training opened, went to California to visit his dying mother Yvette LaFleur near the end of February and still managed to earn a spot on Atlanta’s Opening Day roster. He has spent the following months constructing what has been more than just a feel-good story.
“The job isn’t finished,” Smith said. “We're just taking it one day at a time. Tomorrow is a new day to do some things and keep the ball rolling."
Smith endeared himself to Braves fans on March 28, when he hit a walk-off grand slam against the Royals and then revealed that his mother had passed away two weeks earlier. He kept the news private while battling to gain the roster spot that came available when Jurickson Profar was handed a 162-game suspension for testing positive for a banned performance-enhancing substance for a second straight season.
Had the switch-hitting Profar not been suspended, there’s a chance Smith would have ended up within another organization at the end of Spring Training.
Whether Profar would have been at least as productive offensively is debatable. But it’s hard to imagine he would have provided as much value within the clubhouse as Smith, a former Met and National, who found instant comfort within his new National League East home.
“We’ve got some superstars in that room,” Smith said. “But when you walk in there you can’t even tell they’re superstars, because of how selfless they are, and how much they just really love baseball.”