Dominic Smith is by far the most well known player on the Mets Non-Roster Invitee list. Before the 2016 season these were Smith’s prospect rankings:
- Baseball America, #79
- MLB.com. #51
- Baseball Prosectus, #86
Before this season, these are Smith’s prospect rankings:
- Baseball America, #71
- MLB.com, #63
- Baseball Prospectus, Not Ranked.
It would seem from these rankings that Smith’s stock is dropping. He had his best year in the minors so far last year putting up a .302/.367/.457 line finally showing some power as he hit 14 homers, up from 6 the year before and 1 the year before that.
The problem: Smith is a first basemen. Moderate power and spray hitting won’t cut it in a position where he needs to display a lot of power. Plus, he was drafted to develop power. The expectations of showing a lot of power and playing in a power position have hurt his perception. Still working as an advantage for him: his age. He’ll be 22 this season, still enough time to start showing some pop since he’s making solid contact.
Like a few other players in the system, if he keeps hitting, even not for power, the Mets are going to have to call him up. He’s blocked by Lucas Duda right now, but if the Mets made it through a season replacing Lucas Duda with James Loney, they could do a lot worse replacing Lucas Duda with Dom Smith.
