Keith Law of ESPN continued his Top 100 Prospect list today with numbers 40-21 which includes New York Mets first base prospect Dominic Smith at #29. Smith becomes the fourth Mets prospect on the list following the rankings of left-handed pitcher Thomas Szapucki (#60), right-handed pitcher Robert Gsellman (#76) and right-handed pitcher Justin Dunn (#84).
Law has been generally the high man among prospect publications all along with Smith having him at #29 last year. His second highest rating going into the 2016 was from MLB Pipeline at #51.
Law had this to say about Dominic, “Smith is an extraordinarily disciplined, calm hitter, striking out in just 13 percent of his plate appearances last year, showing an advanced two-strike approach and willingness to use the whole field. In addition to just generally pulling the ball more in 2016, Smith also got the ball in the air more often, which is critical to boosting his batting average since he’s a well below-average runner.”
Smith, 21, is coming off his best season as a professional. While being the youngest player to play a full season in the Eastern League, Smith hit .302/.367/.457 with 29 doubles, two triples, 14 homers, and 91 RBI. He was recently ranked by MLB Pipeline as the third best first base prospect in baseball and ranked our #2 prospect here at MMO.
More on Smith from Law, “Smith is an above-average defender at first whose 70 arm is sort of wasted at the position, and has worked this offseason on improving his conditioning, which was a concern last year as he was playing at what I’ll politely call the top end of the acceptable range for his weight. There’s still untapped power here, but given the progress Smith has already made in games this year, I expect 20-plus homers from him this year or next along with the same high averages and doubles totals he posted in 2015 and 2016.”
I fully expect Smith to hit at least 20 home runs in 2017 and it’s not only because he will be playing his home games in hitter friendly Cashman Field for the Las Vegas 51s (talks of new stadium in the works). It’s due to the loft that he added in his swing, as well as him showing more pull side power last season. Add in the fact that he’s worked extremely hard this offseason to get in great shape and I think 2016 was just the beginning of Smith showing increased in-game power.
