By Scott Ferguson November 7. 2020
On September 17th, the Mets were in a dire position. The game with the Phillies had been a back and forth affair. The Mets had jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but had not only lost the lead, but were down 6-3 after the Phillies finished batting in the bottom of the second. The Mets had battled back to tie the game 6-6 in the top of the sixth and the bullpen had kept things tied through the next two innings. Then came the bottom of the eighth. With the game still tied and two out, Luis Rojas put Justin Wilson into the game to pitch to Bryce Harper. Wilson was erratic immediately and became visibly frustrated on the mound. He walked Harper and then walked the batter after Harper to load the bases. With Didi Gregorius at the plate, Wilson immediately fell behind two balls to no strikes. It was a moment where someone needed to step up, to talk to Wilson, to do something to stem the tide. That person was Dominic Smith. The young first baseman walked over to Wilson, said a few words and walked back. On the next pitch, Wilson threw a ball that had just enough plate to get the aggressive Gregorius to swing, resulting in an easy fly ball to center field. The Mets got out of the inning and took the lead 10-6 in the bottom of the frame. Smith also went three for five in the game with two runs scored and two RBI, falling a home run short of the cycle.
Smith came into his own in 2020. His bat and place amongst his teammates are part of that emergence, as is a social conscience that lead to a personal protest of social injustice on August 26th followed by a team supported protest on August 27th. At 25, Mets fans can’t ask much more from this young man.
Smith was supposed to be a star. That’s what the draft pundits said when the Mets selected him 11th overall in the 2013 draft. Great glove, smooth stroke, best pure hitter in the high school ranks, were all statements thrown around by the likes of Keith Law, Jonathan Mayo, and other top draft evaluators of Major League Baseball talent. His minor league career showed promise immediately, with an .837 OPS in his first 206 plate appearances after signing his contract in 2013. His progress seemed to stall a bit over the next two years though. He showed very little power, only hitting seven home runs in over 1,000 plate appearances combined in 2014 and 2015. It was a case in which evaluators began to wonder if he would hit enough and for enough power to become a major league first baseman or whether he was on his way towards first round bust status. There were also questions about his motivation and physical fitness. In 2016 and 2017 though, he seemed to finally build on his promising debut with an .824 OPS in 2016 and .905 OPS in 2017 before being called up to the major leagues.
His major league debut was mixed. He showed more power than he had in the minors, hitting nine home runs in his first 180 plate appearances but also struck out more than expected. He was 22 years old though and the hope was that Smith would continue to show progress in 2018.
He had competition though. In 2016 the Mets had drafted another first baseman, Pete Alonso, in the 2nd round. Alonso came on with a bang, posting a .969 OPS after being drafted, followed up by an .889 OPS and 18 homeruns in 393 plate appearances in 2017. It was clear that these two players were closing in on each other. They were the same age (Smith is six months older) and would most likely play at the same level in 2018. How would that work? What would both players do?
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