Will Smith had an extremely hot start to the 2024 season with the Los Angeles Dodgers and that continued well into late-May with a .301 batting average.
If he continued on that pace, that would have been well over his career high for batting average. But as of late, Smith has fallen into a rough patch.
He was held out of the lineup in the opening game of the Freeway Series on June 21, which was the second time in three games that he was not starting.
At the time, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts explained the decision as a way to ensure Smith was not being physically taxed by his workload, especially after a four game series in the thin Colorado air.
Smith has played in all but 16 of the Dodgers’ games this season, which is a pretty sizable workload for such a physical position like catcher. However, he was surprisingly not in the lineup once again for Wednesday’s game against the White Sox.
It was notable not only because it was his third day off in a week, but also because Roberts previously stated that Smith would play all three games of the series in Chicago. Roberts stated that Smith was given another off day to work on his mechanics in the midst of a rough stretch at the plate, according to Jack Harris of the L.A. Times:
Will Smith was supposed to start all three games in the series, which was sandwiched around days off Sunday and Thursday, but Roberts held Smith out Wednesday to give the struggling catcher extra time to work with the hitting coaches on mechanical adjustments to his swing.
His stats in the past seven games are extremely rough, but they have been on a downward trend for quite a while with a .194/.276/.444 slash line in the past 30 games.
Considering their opponent, and another day off on Thursday, it was an ideal time to give Smith two more days to work on his mechanics and it worked out for the best with the Dodgers sealing the three game sweep on the White Sox on Wednesday.
With Mookie Betts no longer in the lineup for the foreseeable future, it becomes even more important that the Dodgers get Smith back on track.
Has Will Smith regressed toward the mean?
Will Smith has been an above average hitter at the catcher position since becoming the full time starter, but has never had a batting average higher than .261 in a full season. After an extremely hot start to the season, his numbers have fallen back down to his career averages.
Despite this recent cold streak, he still is on pace for a career year in 2024 if he can break out of his current funk at the plate.
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