Where There is a Will, There is a Way

Right now Dodger catcher Will Smith is the talk of the town and perhaps rightfully so. Just a few short weeks ago he was being thrown on the scrap heap by some Dodger faithful. I for one am not surprised that he has stepped up to claim the starting role as the Dodgers’ catcher.

It was mentioned the other day that there was nothing to suggest that this transformation could happen with the 25-year-old Smith. I believe there were signs along the way that he could evolve into an everyday catcher and that is exactly what the Dodgers were expecting him to do. He has been on a path for the past couple of years that had encouraging signs leading to his current situation. Call it unexpected, maturation, confidence but it is not surprising, at least to me. Obviously he will not always be as hot (17 for 36) as he is now having gone through a cold period but he has demonstrated he is a MLB player at the most demanding position in all of professional team sports. He has demonstrated he can hit with two strikes and with two outs. He has committed no errors in 75 MLB games and has allowed  three passed balls. He has thrown out only 25% of would-be base stealers after having thrown out 37% in the minors so that is something to continue to work on.

What were the signs he  could develop into the Dodgers primary catcher?

The 5’9”/ 195 lb. Smith was selected by the Dodgers with the 32nd overall pick in the 2016 First-Year Player Draft following teammate Gavin Lux who was selected by the Dodgers with the 20th overall pick.

Born in Louisville, Kentucky, following graduation from high school he took his trade to the University of Louisville after the Cardinals coaching staff pursued him and transitioned him to catching.

“He was the star shortstop, the star pitcher, the star catcher,” says Louisville head coach Dan McDonnell. “But you can only play one position at a time.”

His freshman year did not go as well as he might have hoped and expected and at that point he  might not have been on any MLB team’s watch list.

His transformation started in 2015 in his sophomore year.  Louisville hired Eric Snider as its hitting coach from the University of Illinois.  From his freshman to sophomore year, he raised his batting average 21 points while hitting the first two homers of his college career. Then came the colossal leap offensively in an All-ACC junior season that saw him slash .382/.480/.567 with an OPS of 1.047 along  with seven home runs and 43 RBI in 55 games.

His hitting coach, to whom Smith gives the credit for being drafted, was impressed with the young catcher’s development. What Snider remembered first from seeing Smith was his natural throwing action behind the plate. But what he remembers most was his willingness to learn.

“I think a lot of the reason why I got drafted and the reason why I’m a pretty good hitter now is because of him and the work he put in with me,” Smith says.

Next came the draft in 2016. His draft stock had soared as his offensive season exploded.

“I guess it really hit about halfway through his junior year when they were thinking 10th, 11th round,” Will’s father recalls. “All of a sudden, every Major League team has interviewed him, and it’s like, ‘Oh, wow, he might actually do this.’ Then the last two weeks were just nuts, as far as before the draft.”

The Dodgers selected Smith earlier than he had expected and why not coming off his junior year. He is athletic, had been an infielder proving his versatility, was  a hard worker and always looking to learn from wherever he can.

“We always thought Will had a very high ceiling in the game,” says University of Louisville director of baseball operations Brian Mundorf, who’s been with the Cardinals program since 1996. “Can I sit here and say I thought he would be a first-round draft pick? Maybe not. But if you watched Will Smith at practice every day and watched his growth as a player and watched him get better each and every day over the course of his three years, we knew the sky was the limit. We knew that Will had tons of ability, and his desire to be great I think is what separated him.”

Will Smith signed with the Dodgers very quickly and began his professional career on June 23, 2016 with the Ogden Raptors. After seven games he was promoted to the Great Lakes Loons for 23 games and then on to the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes for 25 games. On the season he posted a triple slash of .246/.355/.329 with four home runs and 24 runs batted in. Not eye popping numbers but moving through three levels in his first season perhaps was a sign of the Dodgers expectations for him.

Smith returned to the Quakes for the 2017 season playing in 72 games and slashing .232/.355/.448. Again not eye popping numbers but something was happening. He hit 11 home runs and drove in 42.

It could have been argued that the power numbers might have been risen due to the hitter friendly California League.

He followed up that season with an assignment to the Arizona Fall League in which he hit .371 and drove in 16 RBI in 18 games. He posted a .452 OBP and an OPS of 1.017.

He opened the 2018 season with the Tulsa Drillers playing in 73 games with a power surge continuing. He hit .264 with 19 home runs and 53 runs batted in. A later season call up to the Oklahoma City Dodgers did not go so well as he hit .138 over 25 games. But something else happened  in September that again indicated the Dodgers expectations for him.

The Dodgers brought him to Los Angeles following his season in Oklahoma really in an apprenticeship role although they never activated him. His assignment was to watch and learn but never get into  a game.

“Invaluable,” Roberts says. “He conceded a month at home to be with the Dodgers and be in the clubhouse and be a part of meetings, engaging with players in the clubhouse, seeing how the mechanics of the day worked. The language we use, scouting and advance reports.”

“It was awesome,” Smith says. “It was good to get a little taste of the big leagues in September, to go about the daily routine without actually having to perform and meet those expectations. It made the transition here way easier because I knew what … exactly to expect, so when I did get called up for the first time it was: All right, I’ve kind of done this before. Now let’s do all that and go play and perform.”

Smith opened the 2019 season back with the Oklahoma City Dodgers and quite the season it was. In 62 games he had a triple slash of .268/.381/.603 and an OPS of .984. Of note, he hit 20 home runs and drove in 54. He played nine games with the Dodgers in May and June before a permanent call up  beginning on July 27th.

Smith’s MLB debut actually was on May 28, 2019  in which he had two hits, one in his first MLB at bat and the other a double.

About an hour before his major league debut in May in Los Angeles, veteran catcher Russell Martin recognized the moment. How could Smith’s walk-up song not be the theme to the hit television series, “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”, which starred…the now other Will Smith?

“We had a little conversation,” the young catcher said. “He told me he’d take care of it.”

Martin took care of it and Smith still often uses it as his walk-up song, which elicits big smiles from both the Dodgers and their fans.

On the season, and perhaps this was forgotten, Will Smith hit 15 home runs with the Dodgers in 54 games, drove in 42, had some very significant hits and slashed .253/.337/.571 with an OPS of .907.

Now on to the current season. That is, the one where Will Smith was almost drummed out of town after a slow start and an injury. The one where he now is batting in the middle of the Dodgers order and deservedly so.

“He’s shown me enough of consistency with the at bat quality,” Roberts said. “The simplified approach, the plan, the mechanics. He hits to all fields, hits right and left. He’s earned it. As we look to finish the season, performance and my trust in players will matter. Will is taking every at bat and making it a good at bat. He’s earned this opportunity to hit in the middle of the order.”

Something else has happened with Smith following his progression through the minors and the development of more power.  For me the big difference was his command of the strike zone as a hitter again walking more than he is striking out. He is not chasing and seems to be confident enough to hit in all counts. Perhaps that is just maturity and confidence at work but those who look at different types of analyses speak of the nature of his hitting. That is, hitting the ball hard and to all fields.

According to Bill Plunkett Smith’s strikeout percentage has dropped virtually by half – from 26.5% last year to 13.5% year. His walk rate has increased from 9.2% to 21.6% this year – better than MLB leader Paul Goldschmidt, who has more plate appearances.

Smith simply doesn’t swing at pitches outside the strike zone – an elite 12.7% (Betts is at 19.8%) that also cuts last year’s rate in half (24.9%).

His recent surge is not the result of making changes  at the plate. It’s the result of sticking with what he knows what must be done and how to do it. Dave Roberts said this back when Smith was in the midst of what appeared to be his struggle at the plate.

“He was one of the unluckiest hitters in the big leagues. Quality of contact, at-bat quality, exit (velocity) off the bat – all that stuff,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Smith, who has seen more hits fall in during his current 7-for-25 stretch. “I just applaud him for not changing. Because a lot of times, certainly young players, when they’re not getting results they start to change and chase results.”

According to Statcast and Baseball Info Solutions, Smith’s average exit velocity of 94.3 is third in the majors behind only Miguel Sano and Fernando Tatis Jr. His barrel percentage of 16.7 is tied for 20th in the majors with some guy named Mike Trout and a few others. 

I am not big on analytical stuff but these might help explain why Will Smith has taken another step up as a MLB hitter. He now is able to join the big boys because of his plate maturity and commanding the strike zone.

He entered last Tuesday batting .303/.432/.618 (182 OPS+) in 95 plate appearances this year. His 178 wRC+ (FanGraphs’ catch-all offensive metric that adjusts for ballpark) is the highest among catchers with at least 90 plate appearances, and it’s the best by a wide margin — second-place belongs to Kansas City’s Salvador Perez, who has a 140 wRC+. Independent of position, Smith ranks fifth in the majors in that metric, ahead of the aforementioned  Mike Trout, Fernando Tatis Jr., Tim Anderson, and nearly every other notable hitter who isn’t named Juan Soto.

Between his exit velocity  and his in-zone contact rate, he’s a part of what can be called the 90-90 Club. It boasts a small but productive membership that, as of Saturday, included Mookie Betts, DJ LeMahieu, Anthony Rendon, Robinson Cano, Yuli Gurriel, and Nick Solak. Everyone, save for Solak, had an OPS+ of 100 or better, and three of the seven were over 150; Smith is at 182. As it turns out, hitting strikes often and hitting strikes hard is a good recipe for success.

Smith uses the whole field. So far this season 36.5 % of his hits are pulled, 39.2% are straight away and 24.3% are to the opposite field.  His use of the middle of the field has not changed from 2019 but this year he has pulled the ball 9% less and used the opposite field 9% more.

So what else does Will Smith do to help his game? He has made it a year round enterprise.

Professional players are encouraged to return to the University of Louisville as often as they like. The gym, the weight room, the batting cages and even the indoor football field are available. Smith continues to take advantage of the space, along with about five to 10 other pro players each offseason. A fingerprint gets him access to anywhere he wants at the Louisville facility.

The main cages are known as “the hack shack.” He spent hundreds of hours there in college — a total he’s still adding to in the off-season.

“There were countless times I came in at 10 o’clock at night and just hit on my own on the machine,” he says. “Now in pro ball, I spend probably 10 hours a week in here in the offseason hitting — hour and a half at a time, six days a week.”

In closing, here’s a look inside his locker.

Locker Tour: Will Smith, Catcher, Los Angeles Dodgers

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