ATLANTA -- Dominic Smith learned from Barry Bonds last year and he enjoyed listening to Chipper Jones during this year’s Spring Training. Maybe this is why he has spent the 2026 season’s first few weeks delivering like a Hall of Famer.
“This has turned into a great story,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said. “It already is. But it just keeps getting better and it couldn’t happen to a better guy. I’m so happy for him.”
Smith elated countless Braves fans when he laced a go-ahead three-run double in the eighth inning of a 6-5 comeback win over the Marlins on Tuesday night at Truist Park. This game-winner comes a little more than two weeks after he hit a walk-off grand slam in a 6-2 win over the Royals on March 28.
“I give credit to my whole team for giving me the opportunity to come up in that situation," Smith said.
Quite honestly, there was nobody else the Braves should have wanted to have up after they loaded the bases in the eighth. Smith might not have even remained in Atlanta’s organization had Jurickson Profar not been given a 162-game PED suspension in early March. But Smith has been one of the team’s top offensive threats thus far.
Smith has hit .395 with a 1.099 OPS through his first 41 plate appearances of the season. He has a 1.467 OPS in 17 plate appearances with runners on base and he is 6-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
And just in case you’re wondering, the walk-off homer and this latest bases-clearing double account for his only two at-bats with the bases loaded.
Smith’s production as the designated hitter against right-handed starters has been more than could have been expected from Profar had he remained in that projected role.
“I’ve watched him a ton and I’ll just say it’s nice to have him on this side,” Braves closer Raisel Iglesias said. “I think we expect to more or less see the same thing the rest of the season.”
Iglesias struck out two in a perfect ninth to secure his 100th save since joining the Braves at the 2022 Trade Deadline. The late-inning contributions he and Smith made allowed Atlanta to overcome the 4-0 deficit Reynaldo López faced after two innings. When Robert Suarez allowed the Marlins to increase their lead to two runs in the eighth, it looked like the Braves might begin this three-game set with consecutive losses and lose their status as MLB’s only team that hasn’t yet lost a series.
Miami relievers entered the eighth having allowed just two runs over their past 22 innings. But Pete Fairbanks surrendered Drake Baldwin’s bloop single and a two-out Mike Yastrzemski single before hitting Ozzie Albies with a 3-1 pitch to load the bases for Smith.
“I think to have a good season, you’ve got to win games like this,” Weiss said. “You’ve got to steal games to have a good season and we certainly stole that one tonight.”
Smith swung through two straight Fairbanks cutters to fall behind in an 0-2 count. At this point, Smith harkened back to a message Jones delivered when he spoke to Braves hitters on March 5. This was in response to Matt Olson’s question about how much the former third baseman would commit to a certain pitch when facing a pitcher who relied on the changeup as his out pitch.
“I would sit dead red the first pitch against a guy that I knew had a good changeup,” Jones said after the discussion. "No matter what the pitch was, I'd come out of my shoes. If I did get the heater, I'd probably put it in play. But if I got the changeup, I'd swing through it. From that point on, I'd be sitting on the changeup.
“Those are kind of the ins and outs of trying to set a pitcher up to get that pitch you want, because you know, when the rubber meets the road, he’s going to throw it.”
The cutter hasn’t been Fairbanks’ go-to pitch in the past, but it looks like he plans to use it as one of his primary pitches this season. To Smith’s credit, he was ready when the Marlins righty left a 1-2 cutter in the middle of the zone.
“Hearing a guy like Chipper talk about going up there being ready to hit first pitch, and taking your shot with the understanding that it's OK if you look crazy,” Smith said. “But you’re setting a pitcher up for something later in that at-bat. To hear that from a legendary player’s mouth, it does hit different. I think that’s just something I added to my game.”