KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- In the second inning of Saturday's 3-1 Mets win against the Astros at Osceola County Stadium, Mets first baseman Dominic Smith got a pitch he liked from Collin McHugh and drilled it hard to right field.
In fact, the Mets' No. 2 prospect was so sure he'd gotten all of it that he went into his home run trot, only to see the ball smack off the fence. By the time he realized that the ball wasn't a home run, he had to settle for a single.
Oops.
Mets manager Terry Collins, who spoke to Smith about the play when he got back to the dugout, focused on the bright side.
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"He learned a lesson," Collins said after the game. "What I said wasn't necessarily [suitable to print]. No, he just said he messed up and it would never happen again. And I said, 'I know it won't, and make sure it doesn't.' That's all."
Smith said he'll never make that mistake again.
"He tried to throw a four-seamer in, and I hit it pretty well," the non-roster invitee explained. "It got a little topspin at the end. I definitely hit it well, but there's no place for me not to hustle out of the box like that.
"It's a learning experience. [Collins] definitely did say something. I'm in big league camp. I'm learning a lot. There's no room in baseball for that at all. I'm going to take that and learn from it, and it definitely won't happen again."