New York Mets: Dominic Smith expects nothing to be handed to him

Dominic Smith fully prepared to work for the New York Mets starting first baseman’s job.

New York Mets fans far and wide were waiting with bated breath for the late season call up of Dominic Smith. Finally, the future was headed to Queens as he and Amed Rosario came on the scene to show the world what they could do. All Mets fans heard was that help would finally be on the way from the farm system.

Let’s be honest. Smith’s two months up with the Mets were underwhelming to say the least. He did flash some power with nine home runs but the batting average wasn’t pretty. Hitting .198 was not what the Mets brass had in mind when calling this kid up to the big leagues. In 2016 Smith hit .302 with 91 RBI for the Binghamton Mets. Before his call up, he was hitting .330 for the Las Vegas AAA team.

The big leagues are not the minors but the team was still expecting more. This is likely why when Sandy Alderson was asked about Smith, he said (via NJ.com):

"“He didn’t win the job in September. Let’s put it that way.”"

More from Empire Writes Back

To his credit, Smith didn’t take issue with the comments. Instead he understood that he must be better to make the starting nine of this team: (via NJ.com):

"“I wasn’t surprised,” Smith said Wednesday, following the Mets’ holiday shopping spree event a Target in Elmhurst. “For the Mets, 2018 is going to be a big year. We want to contend. Hopefully, everybody is going to home back healthy and we can contend. So at the end of the day, if you’re the GM of the team, you’re going to put out the best nine players that you think can get the job done."

One of his biggest issues is his weight. Smith lost weight heading into last year but put much of it back on during his season at Triple A. Instead of lamenting his problem he is getting to work on it. Smith knows he has his work cut out for him but he knows that it has to be done and that Alderson got it right. He didn’t earn the job in September and he must gear up to get it done during spring training.

Next: Five best third basemen in Mets history

Is Dominic Smith the future at first base? He is going to get every opportunity to be that guy. Smith will have to control that weight to have a chance to realize that full potential. We will see soon enough if he can get it done.

Home/New York Mets