NEW YORK -- From the moment Amed Rosario arrived in the big leagues this week, talk shifted to when his former Triple-A Las Vegas teammate, Dominic Smith, might turn up as well. The Mets' second-ranked prospect according to MLB Pipeline, Smith earned Pacific Coast League Player of the Month honors for July, batting .385 with eight home runs and a league-leading 28 runs scored.
For now, however, Smith will remain confined to the Minors.
"Dom, we want to make sure -- as with Amed -- when he comes here, he gets most of the playing time," Mets general manager Sandy Alderson said. "I expect that will be in the near future, but I can't give you a specific timeframe. I have said that we prefer to see him earlier than Sept. 1, and I think we will. But other than that, I can't be more specific."
For Smith, the sticking point does not appear to be his readiness, but the team's available playing time. Once the Mets promote Smith, they want him to start every day at first base. Given their current infield logjam of Rosario, Jose Reyes, Asdrubal Cabrera, Neil Walker, Wilmer Flores and Jay Bruce -- the latter two of whom have been splitting time at first -- the Mets are already stretched for reps at the position.
That could change with an injury -- or, Alderson hinted, with a waiver trade in August. Cabrera and Walker in particular are candidates to move this month, which would free up playing time for everyone else.
If that doesn't occur, Alderson said, the Mets at some point will simply promote Smith at the expense of other infielders. Overall at Las Vegas, Smith is batting .337 with 16 home runs and a .927 OPS in 108 games.
"At some point, we'll just do it," Alderson said. "There are player transactions that do take place in the month of August. Often, though, that doesn't happen until the end of August. But I think at some point, if necessary, we'll just make the playing time available."