Mets First Time Selection: Dominic Smith
I think everyone would pick Dominic Smith given the choice to select a first-time All-Star to represent the Mets this July.
Conceivably Dom would have made it last year after having the best year of his career and one of the best offensive seasons in the National League.
Through 50 games last year Dom Smith hit to a slash line of .316/.377/.616/.993 with 32 extra-base hits and 42 RBIs. He was top ten in Slugging Percentage, OPS, doubles, and RBIs which led him to finish in the top 15 in MVP voting for 2020.
Over the last few years, Dominic Smith has been improving his offensive abilities and 2020 turned out to be his breakout year. There was a time in the recent past that Mets fans didn’t know if Dom would be able to stick around especially with Pete Alonso knocking on the door.
It turned out that Dom had undiagnosed sleep apnea and that was playing a large role in his subpar performances early in his Mets career. He got that fixed and it has been all positive returns since and it has been a joy to watch.
If Dom duplicates the type of season, he had in 2020 in 2021 he will put himself in an excellent position to make his first All-Star appearance.
Dom will most likely not get in as a starter due to left field having a couple of exceptionally good candidates including Christian Yelich, but Dom should certainly make it as a reserve, but a selection is a selection regardless of how you make it.