The Edge of Seventeen: Dominic Smith

[Edgy MD]

As Prince Fielder was the portly past, I'm the fat future. Lucas Duda wakes up every day and sees this beefy Binghamtonian in his rearview mirror. I'm hitting a hefty .300, breaking through with pudgy power, and fielding with fleshy finesse.

But Lucas is a big boy. And hard to move out of the way. And I don't really play anywhere else, and as Lucas has made abundantly clear, neither does he. So I head out to the desert, and work on my power stroke, waiting for my time to arrive. When will that come and how will I do? Because I intend to be stout and steady, rotund and ready.

[fimg=360:34yicva2]http://metsmerizedonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Smith_d4bb2aav_10988pgy-e1436395316924.jpg[/fimg:34yicva2] [fimg=360:34yicva2]http://www.milb.com/assets/images/9/6/6/127773966/cuts/960_Smith_Cliff_Welch_MiLB_kzkvzhay_g2muqv8v.jpg[/fimg:34yicva2]
[fimg=379:34yicva2]http://mets.locals.baseballprospectus.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2016/11/ds1.jpg[/fimg:34yicva2] [fimg=341:34yicva2]http://metsmerizedonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/dominic-smith-400x296.png?x22250[/fimg:34yicva2]

[Frayed Knot]

Not that I think there was any chance of him winning a job to start the season, he hasn't helped himself with a bad spring: 5 singles and a double in 34 ABs with lots of strikeouts.

[MFS62]

Smith and Conforto will be the Gehrig and Ruth of the Pacific Coast League this year, until their close-to-.400 averages force the Mets to call them up.
That will happen after the All Star Break, and Smith will have a Willie McCovey impact on the team. He'll replace an often injured injured Lucas Duda and hit .338 - 9 - 52 in the second half of the season and lead the Mets to the pennant.

Later

[Lefty Specialist]

Pudgy Power! I think he'll be up and down depending on Dudahealth. Still hasn't shown the pop in the bat yet, but maybe Vegas cures all ills. They'll keep him down until the Super-Two deadline passes even if they have to play Jay Bruce at first base.

6/20/.270 in 150 AB's. As is Terry's wont, he'll be batting him 7th-8th a lot until he proves himself.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Fans have been talking about this guy like he's the heir apparent for years but the fact is it's really hard to become a starting first baseman on a contending team. Just look at the trouble Zimmo and Conforto and Cecchini are having and the expectations of their roles are arguably easier, or dArnaud who's been given the chance and still hasn't run with it.

I need this guy to make it clear that calling him up is a slam dunk, and I don;t believe despite all the good notes and the soft hands ect he's nearly ready for that. Spends the whole year at AA or AAA and has a chance to come up in 18 if he blows the doors off the joint and by that I mean hit the amount of home runs you'd expect a big fat young kid to hit. GET TO WORK, DOMINIC

[Frayed Knot]

Yeah, I don't believe he's coming up this year either, except maybe for a cuppa in September.
If Duda goes down (or really suxx for some reason) then it's a combo of Bruce & Wilmer playing 1st with anyone from TJ Rivera, Walker, or hell maybe even Wright filling in beyond that.

Smith made a lot of progress in 2016, enough to justify the high draft slot and get him onto the middle/upper range of this winter's top-100 lists. But now he needs to build on that if he even
wants to reach the majors much less hold down a steady job if and when he gets there.

[ashie62]

Up for a cuppa coffee.

[metirish]

Ashie62 wrote: Up for a cuppa coffee.

but not a salad

[Edgy MD]

Fans have been talking about this guy like he's the heir apparent for years but the fact is it's really hard to become a starting first baseman on a contending team.

Top Ten Mets Appearances at First by a Home-Grown Met

1. Ed Kranepool: 1,302
2. Ike Davis: 432
3. Dave Magadan: 418
4. Lucas Duda: 407
5. John Milner: 366
6. Mike Jorgensen*: 241
7. Daniel Murphy: 184
8. Lee Mazzilli*: 155
9. Jason Phillips: 122
10. Butch Huskey: 97

* Two tenures.

Seeing how, apart from getting forums named after you, none of these guys is a raving success story, I'd say it's hard to establish a big league starting firstbaseman of any caliber.

Duda may be the best of the lot (depending on how you judge Murphy), and the Mets are getting ready to let him go. Huskey is 10th on the list and he scarcely has more appearances at first for the Mets than James Loney.

[MFS62]

Edgy MD wrote: Seeing how, apart from getting forums named after you, none of these guys is a raving success story, I'd say it's hard to establish a big league starting firstbaseman of any caliber.

Over the years, the Mets haven't established too many really good hitters at other positions, either. The organization has seemed to specialize in finding and developing pitchers. And they have done a great job at that.
Let's hope Dom Smith will some day reach the top of that list of first basemen and deserve his own forum.

Later

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, I mean, I know the team's history. But the present point is that growing a quality firstbaseman has seemed particularly hard.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Nothing Metly in 2017, no NYC delis will be naming a sandwich
after him any time soon.

[Edgy MD]

Smitty may or may not be finding his power, clubbing two homers and a double yesterday, extending his hit streak to 19 games. He has hit in all but two games since 4.

His line is now at a bulgey .325 / .380 / .485 // .865. Each figure is the highest of his career.

[G-Fafif]

An unflattering Smith report, passed along by veteran MLB reporter Danny Knobler.

Dominic Smith? "Overweight, out of shape, moves like he's 50 [years old]."

Hope it's revealed as a a Freezing Cold Take soon.

[ashie62]

That is the report I read about Smith being "less' than athletic.

[ashie62]

[Frayed Knot]

Except that, if you have a "less than athletic" 1st baseman who can none-the-less both hit and field (reports on his glove work have long been excellent) how exactly does this lack of athleticism hurt you?
Is it that he can't run? Well neither do most 1st sackers, so sign me up.

[ashie62]

Bring him up!

[Edgy MD]

Consecutive posts in my Twitter feed.

[tweet:18eprwz1]

[/tweet:18eprwz1]

[tweet:18eprwz1]https://twitter.com/MeredithFoster/status/893294915957907456[/tweet:18eprwz1]

[ashie62]

Maybe Jay Bruce is 2018 Mets 1B.

[Edgy MD]

Your sleepy-eyed Las Vegas firsbaseman has been named PCL July Player of the Month after leading the circuit in runs (28) and going second in extra-base hits (21), total bases (79), slugging (.725) and OPS (1.162). Smitty hit .385 in the month and was also in the league's top five in RBIs (26) and home runs (eight), reaching base safely in 24 of his 26 games in the month. The first-rounder out of Gardena, California's Junipero Serra High School in Gardena, California, has a good chance to be in uniform by tomorrow if the Mets can deal off any of four or perhaps five veterans.

Since Smith's graduation from high school, Junipero Serra has been elevated to the canon of sainthood, so goodness follows in his path.

[Centerfield]

Every day he is not called up is a day wasted.

Come on you dumb Mets.

[ashie62]

i'm not sure the Mets are sold on Dom.

[RealityChuck]

I think it's more an issue of finding a spot for him. There are ten position players (not counting catchers) on the roster. The only ones with options are Conforto, Rosario, and Nimmo (Walker seems to have them, too). Nimmo is the only one who you can send down, and you need him as outfield backup. So who do you release? Cabrera is owed a buyout. If Walker does have options, sending him down would mean there's no chance he'll be back next year. The rest would not clear waivers (yes, some cleared revokeable waivers, but that's a different matter -- teams who passed on them would snatch them up if they didn't have to give up anything to get them).

So you'd have to send down a pitcher. And given the state of the pitching staff these days, you need as many relievers as you can get. Further, you have to account for any players who are ready to come off the disabled list before September 1.

Smith is just caught in a roster numbers game.

[RealityChuck]

Let me just say that I claim credit for the Jay Bruce trade. It's exactly what was needed to open roster space for Smith.

[Centerfield]

Yeah, at this point it's silly to not bring him up.