Donning a Nationals cherry blossom hat and matching pink sweatshirt, Dominic Smith looked ahead to his first season in Washington.

“This feels like home,” Smith said with a smile last week during an introductory Zoom call.

The Los Angeles native is returning to the East Coast, where he had played his entire Major League career with the Mets, on a one-year deal with the Nats.

After being tabbed for multiple positions each season in the bigs, Smith is excited by the Nationals' interest in him playing first base on an everyday basis. The Nats could move Joey Meneses, who started the final 20 games of last season at first base, to the vacant designated hitter spot. Along with Smith, the club also added outfielder Corey Dickerson (per a source, club has not confirmed) as another left-handed-hitting option.

Smith has split his 370 Major League contests nearly equally between first base (187 games, 123 starts) and left field (182 games, 165 starts), in addition to 24 games (22 starts) at DH. The last time he made more than 100 starts at first in a single season was 2017 in Triple-A, leading up to his big league debut that August.

“You don’t want to say that it kind of affects your playing, but I think when I’m at first base, I’m able to just really be comfortable, be relaxed and showcase my talent over there and not have to worry about doing too much or where my position today is and whatnot,” Smith said. “I think it will help me have a clear head at the plate. I’m just excited to have that role again. … It’s been some time. It’s something I’ve worked very hard for, and I just can’t wait to see what I can do.”

With an everyday role, Smith also hopes to re-establish consistency at the plate. He noted making hard contact, improving positioning in his legs, avoiding chasing and controlling the strike zone as keys to bouncing back from last season, wherein he hit .194.

“I think I’m at my best when I’m just letting the pitchers come to me and not trying to do too much,” he said.

At 27, Smith has a lot of baseball ahead of him. He also has six years in the Majors to share with a young Nationals club. From being a first-round Draft pick out of high school in 2013 to batting .316 in the pandemic-shortened '20 season to being non-tendered by the Mets in November, Smith has a myriad of experiences he can impart and continue to learn from himself.

“Anytime a guy can get a fresh start, it can be an exciting time for him as a player, as a person. It can be an exciting thing for the organization,” he said. “For me, I'm excited for it. The chance to go out and play every day, that's all I've ever wanted in my career and I haven't got it. So just to finally be in a position where I can go and compete, prove what I can do and just go earn everything, the Nationals are not going to give me anything.

"They want me to come and help this team develop a winning culture, and that's what I want to do. I'm not asking them to give me anything but just the chance to go and prove that.”