You'll never believe how proficient this former NY Mets player is with his new team

At one point in time, many had Dom Smith penciled in as the future first baseman of the New York Mets. The 2013 first-round pick was at one point the second-best prospect in the system according to MLB Pipeline. During the entire 2017 season, fans were screaming for the front office to call him up. The hype surrounding him was so big that people thought that Smith, along with Amed Rosario, were going to be the next David Wright and Jose Reyes.

However, things did not work out the way Smith or Mets fans hoped. Outside of a strong 2019 and 2020, Smith never was able to live up to the hype. In six seasons with the Mets, he appeared in 447 games, slashing .246/.308/.424 with 46 home runs, 179 RBIs, and an OPS+ of 99. This underperformance, along with the emergence of Pete Alonso, caused Smith to leave after the 2022 season.

After bouncing around the league the past two seasons, Smith has recently been picked up by the San Francisco Giants. Smith has made the most of his opportunity so far, much to the surprise of Mets fans. But how good has Smith been in his brief time in the Bay Area?

Dom Smith unexpected start to his time in San Francisco

While it's a small sample size, only appearing in ten games and getting 33 at-bats, he's been red hot. He has a slash line of .343/.405/.514 with one home run, seven RBIs, a 165 OPS+, and a wRC+ of 155. The advanced numbers for Smith are great as well, with him registering a .379 BABIP and a xwOBA of .323.

There are two primary reasons for Smith's recent hot streak. The first being the quality of contact he's making. He has a launch angle sweet-spot percentage of 46.7% and a squared-up percentage of 29.3%. While he does not qualify on the MLB leaderboard, these would rank near the best among MLB players.

He has also been better at hitting pitches that are not fastballs. Throughout his career, Smith has struggled against breaking balls and off-speed pitches. Before 2025, he had a career average of .237 against breaking balls and .201 against offspeed pitches. However, he currently has a .353 average against breaking balls and a .500 average against offspeed pitches. While it's only been ten games, this suggests he's starting to see these pitches better and is not showing signs of what has hindered him in the past.

This is the Smith that Mets fans were expecting when he was the second overall prospect in the Mets system. While he needs to demonstrate that he can maintain this level of production over a larger sample size to keep his job, he's showing that there is still hope for a career renaissance. He could be the next former Met to find success in Northern California.