The Mets have made a habit of drafting raw, high school hitters with their first round picks under Sandy Alderson. First it was Brandon Nimmo, then Gavin Cecchini, and in 2013, Alderson elected to draft Dominic Smith, an 18 year old, left-handed first base prospect who many people see as one of the best high school bats in the entire draft.
During last winter, Matt Eddy of Baseball America ranked Smith, the Mets fourth best prospect and prior to the start of this past spring training, J.J. Cooper, also of Baseball America ranked Smith as the fourth best first base prospect in all of baseball, trailing only Noah Syndergaard, Travis d’Arnaud and Rafael Montero.
Smith started his professional career after signing in 2013, with the rookie class Gulf Coast League Mets, before advancing to the Kingsport Mets. During the season, Smith batted .301/.439/.837, with 26 RBI’s and 26 walks. He also struck out 37 times in 173 at bats, almost a 22% rate, which could have been expected for an 18 year old during his first experience in professional ball.
This season with Low Class A Savannah, Smith started slowly, but has turned it around recently, which looks like he might be starting to break through his slump. In the last three games, the young left handed first baseman is hitting .500 (5 for 10) with three doubles.
While the power and consistent OBP hasn’t come yet for Smith, it is important to remember that he is still extremely young and like Brandon Nimmo, the Mets expect Smith to fill into his frame a bit more and put on muscle over the next couple of years.
Along with Smith’s raw offensive potential, the Mets loved his glove on the defensive side of the ball at first base. The organization sees him as a guy who can be a perennial gold glove first basemen.
Of course the jury is still out on Dominic Smith because of the age, but the organization hopes he can develop and produce in Savannah and beyond, similar to Brandon Nimmo.
(Feature Photo: Steve Bisson/Savannah Morning News)
It’s promising. He is going to take his lumps at this level. Even the great David Wright had a horrible stretch it Cap City back in 2002 after similarly making the jump from Kingsport at the age of 19. Though he hit .266/.367/.728 overall, those numbers look better because of a great start that he had and I believe he hit .230-something in the second half of that season. Dom is very young for the SAL.
I was in attendance on Sunday and his stat line is a bit misleading. The double was really a weak ground ball hit down the third base line with Lakewood playing an extreme shift. Kudos to Dominic for beating the shift, but it wasn’t exactly a ringing double. Smith looked uncomfortable at the plate all day, and seemed to be off balance. Hopefully he can turn it around soon.