William Dills Smith…resides in Louisville, Kentucky with his wife Cara…was a two-time All-State athlete as a high school upper classman before heading to the University of Louisville…started all three seasons for the Cardinals, ending his college career as the 2016 team captain with All-ACC Third Team honors and NCA A Louisville Regional All-Tournament Team recognition…selected 32nd overall in the 2016 First-Year Player Draft by the Los Angeles Dodgers.
2020
Made great strides in his sophomore season, hitting .289/.401/.579 with eight home runs…matched his 2019 total with nine doubles...Was on the 10-day injured list from Aug. 15-23 with neck inflammation...Showed greater discipline with 20 walks and 22 strikeouts...Hit .348 (23-for-66) with six doubles, four homers and 14 RBI over 18 September games… posted a 1.048 OPS in September (7th, NL)...Each of his eight home runs came against right-handed pitchers…20-of-23 career long balls have been against righties...Started 17 of 18 postseason games…during Game 3 of the NLDS, went 5-for-6 with two doubles and three singles, becoming the 9th player (1st catcher) with a 5-hit game in the postseason…the five hits were also a Dodger postseason record, and the most by any batter in the postseason...tied the Los Angeles franchise record for walks in a game, becoming the 12th player to walk three times in a Postseason game and first since Yasmani Grandal did so on Oct. 7, 2018, vs. Atlanta.
2019
Completed his first Major League season roping nine doubles, 15 homers and 42 RBI at a .253/.337/.57 1 clip across 54 games….tied for 15th in homers among all rookies (10th in the NL) and ranked among the top NL rookies in runs (30, 20th) and RBI (T-14th) ... Connected for a single in his first Major League at-bat during his May 28 debut vs. the Mets…ended the night going 2-for-4 with a double and became one of six Dodgers this century with at least two hits in a big-league debut, joining Rob Segedin, Corey Seager, Yasiel Puig, Russell Martin and Jason Repko ... Became the first Dodger player and second MLB backstop to hit 10-plus homers through his first 25 games, joining the Yankees' Gary Sanchez ... Tied Cody Bellinger ('17) and Matt Kemp ('06) for most homers through a rookie's first 14 games (6 HR)…on Aug. 1, notched a franchise-best 19 RBI within his first 14 contest to surpass Cody Bellinger (17 RBI/14 G, '17) in the mark …made Major League history after launching a walk-off, pinch-hit home run on June 23 to complete the trifecta of three consecutive walk-off wins via home runs by rookies Matt Beaty (June 21) and Alex Verdugo (June 22)…launched his first career walk-off homer on June 1 vs. Philadelphia…recorded a career-high three-hit, six-RBI day on July 27…became the first Dodger rookie to collect six or more RBI in a game since James Loney drove in nine on Sept. 28, 2006…amassed a nine-game hit streak from Aug. 7-21, going 11-for-30 with a pair of doubles, six homers and 12 RBI while tallying a .367/.459/1.033 slashline…during the streak, reached a franchise record for most RBI and homers through 23 career games (26RBI/9HR) on Aug. 13…tied for fourth among rookies with eight homers and 19 RBI during August…24 of his 43 hits went for extra bases…non-roster invitee during Spring Training…tallied 62 games across four stints with Triple-A Oklahoma City and slashed .268/.381/.603 with 11 doubles, a pair of triples, 20 homers and 54 RBI…finished third on the team in homers, fifth in RBI and ninth in doubles…turned in a 1.000 fielding percentage over 403.0 innings behind the plate in 46 games (45 starts)…finished atop all rookie backstops (min. 400 innings) in the category…made the Postseason roster and appeared in four of five NLDS games…tallied a hit and drew a trio of walks in 16 plate appearances.
2018
Started his season with the Double-A Tulsa Drillers, appearing in 73 total games and hitting .264 with 48 runs, 14 doubles, 19 homers and 53 RBI ... Assigned to Triple-A Oklahoma City on Aug. 1 where he appeared in 25 games for the OKC Dodgers ... Finished his minor league season with career-highs in home runs (20), RBI (59), doubles (18) and runs (57) ... Played in 49 games at catcher between Tulsa and Oklahoma City…registered a career-high 43 games at third base…totaled 402.1 innings behind the plate with .995 fielding percentage (2 E/402.1 INN).
2017
Earned Mid-Season All-Star honors with Rancho Cucamonga and All-Prospect Team recognition in the Arizona Fall League ... Saw action in 72 games at Advanced-A Rancho Cucamonga, slashing .232/.355/.448 with 15 doubles, three triples, 11 homers and 43 RBI…made a one-game appearance for Double-A Tulsa ... Ranked fourth in home runs (11) at Rancho while playing in 51 fewer games than the next Quake in the category ... Caught 474.0 innings and nabbed 30 of 63 on the base paths over 56 games en route to a .991 fielding percentage…notched career highs in innings (474.0), total chances (554), putouts (483) and caught stealing (30).
2016
Made stops at Short-Season Ogden (7G) and Single-A Great Lakes (23G) before ascending to Advanced-A Rancho Cucamonga for 25 games in his rookie season ... Wrapped his year slashing .246/.355/.329 with five doubles, four home runs, 24 RBI over 55 total games ... Defensively, accumulated a .994 fielding percentage with 44 assists and 296 putouts with two errors over 342 total chances…threw out 25 potential base stealers in 60 attempts.
