Will Smith

Will Smith

29-Year-Old CatcherC
Los Angeles Dodgers
2024 Fantasy Outlook
Smith had yet another above average offensive season at the dish, especially when you consider he was the only primary catcher to score at least 80 runs last season and just the fifth catcher to do so in the past 15 seasons joining Realmuto, Posey, Martin, and Mauer. Early on, it appeared that Smith was on his way to a huge season as he went into the break with a .279/.396/.494 triple-slash line with 13 homers and 46 RBIs, but hit .242/.320/.381 with just 6 homers and 30 RBIs after the break. Smith's production and outcomes have been consistently impressive as he handles the strains of trying to slow down opposing running games Dodger pitchers struggled to adjust to the new environment. Smith throws very well, yet the league has swiped 118 bases when he has caught over the past two seasons because he is just one part of the equation. Smith and Realmuto are the only two catcher eligible players with at least 125 games played each of the past three seasons. Invest with confidence. Read Past Outlooks
RANKS
Rest of Season From Preseason
#81
ADP
$Signed a 10-year, $140 million contract extension with the Dodgers in March of 2024.
Hits first homer of World Series
CLos Angeles Dodgers
October 30, 2024
Smith hit his first homer of this World Series in Tuesday's Game 4 loss to the Yankees.
ANALYSIS
The playoffs and especially the World Series tend to magnify what would be the normal ebbs and flows of the regular season. Smith is playing through a sore hand after taking a foul ball of his left hand in the NLCS. He had a slightly disappointing regular season, hitting .248/.327/.433 with 20 homers, trading some on-base and batting average for a little more power.
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Batting Stats
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2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
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2023 MLB Game Log
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2022 MLB Game Log
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Batting Order Slot Breakdown
vs Right-Handed Pitchers
vs RHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
17
2
45
4
13
1
vs Left-Handed Pitchers
vs LHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
11
1
17
7
2
Left/Right Batting Splits
Since 2022
 
 
+13%
OPS vs LHP
2024
 
 
+23%
OPS vs LHP
2023
 
 
+1%
OPS vs LHP
2022
 
 
+17%
OPS vs LHP
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2022vs Left .861 440 68 20 56 3 .265 .368 .493
Since 2022vs Right .763 1236 157 43 182 2 .253 .334 .429
2024vs Left .876 155 23 8 21 0 .258 .361 .515
2024vs Right .715 389 54 12 54 1 .244 .314 .401
2023vs Left .800 147 23 6 19 3 .240 .354 .446
2023vs Right .796 407 57 13 57 0 .268 .361 .434
2022vs Left .908 138 22 6 16 0 .300 .391 .517
2022vs Right .776 440 46 18 71 1 .247 .327 .448
More Splits View More Split Stats
Home/Away Batting Splits
Since 2022
 
 
+6%
OPS on Road
2024
 
 
+16%
OPS on Road
2023
 
 
+9%
OPS at Home
2022
 
 
+12%
OPS on Road
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2022Home .765 818 110 31 121 1 .247 .335 .430
Since 2022Away .811 858 115 32 117 4 .265 .351 .460
2024Home .703 261 37 8 37 0 .226 .318 .385
2024Away .812 283 40 12 38 1 .268 .336 .476
2023Home .829 280 42 13 41 0 .271 .354 .475
2023Away .762 274 38 6 35 3 .250 .365 .397
2022Home .760 277 31 10 43 1 .243 .332 .428
2022Away .850 301 37 14 44 0 .275 .352 .498
More Splits View More Split Stats
Stat Review
How does Will Smith compare to other hitters?
This section compares his stats with all batting seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 400 plate appearances)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity and Barrels/PA % are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 400 PA) and Hard Hit Rate is benchmarked against last season's data (min 400 PA). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
  • BB/K
    Walk to strikeout ratio
  • BB Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a walk.
  • K Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a strikeout.
  • BABIP
    Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits.
  • ISO
    Isolated Power. Slugging percentage minus batting average. A computation used to measure a batter's raw power.
  • AVG
    Batting average. Hits divided by at bats.
  • OBP
    On Base Percentage. A measure of how often a batters reaches base. Roughly equal to number of times on base divided by plate appearances.
  • SLG
    Slugging Percentage. A measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats.
  • OPS
    On base plus slugging. THe sum of a batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
  • wOBA
    Weighted on-base average. Measures a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. wOBA combines all the different aspects of hitting into one metric, weighting each of them in proportion to their actual run value.
  • Exit Velocity
    The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
  • Hard Hit Rate
    A measure of contact quality from Sports Info Solutions. This stat explains what percentage of batted balls were hit hard vs. medium or soft.
  • Barrels/PA
    The percentage of plate appearances where a batter had a batted ball classified as a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
  • Expected BA
    Expected Batting Average.
  • Expected SLG
    Expected Slugging Percentage.
  • Sprint Speed
    The speed of a runner from home to first, in feet per second.
  • Ground Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are on the ground.
  • Line Drive %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are line drives.
  • Fly Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are fly balls.
BB/K
0.49
 
BB Rate
9.4%
 
K Rate
19.3%
 
BABIP
.273
 
ISO
.185
 
AVG
.248
 
OBP
.327
 
SLG
.433
 
OPS
.760
 
wOBA
.330
 
Exit Velocity
89.4 mph
 
Hard Hit Rate
34.2%
 
Barrels/PA
7.5%
 
Expected BA
.246
 
Expected SLG
.454
 
Sprint Speed
23.2 ft/sec
 
Ground Ball %
33.1%
 
Line Drive %
19.3%
 
Fly Ball %
47.6%
 
Prospect Rankings History
Advanced Batting Stats
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Additional Stats
Games By Position
Defensive Stats
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Batted Ball Stats
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Stats Vs Upcoming Pitchers
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31 days ago
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Past Fantasy Outlooks
2023
2022
2021
2020
Perhaps no player in baseball is in a more favorable position than Smith. He was the primary cleanup hitter for a 111-win Dodgers team last season, batting behind the likes of Mookie Betts, Trea Turner and Freddie Freeman. Smith held up his end of the bargain with 24 homers and 87 RBI across 578 total plate appearances. He shaved nearly four points off his strikeout rate from his first full season in the majors and the bat is arguably worthy of more DH starts in the years to come (24 starts as the designated hitter in 2022). The rigors of catching make it tough for any backstop to stay healthy over the entire season, year-in and year-out, but Smith has now cleared 500 plate appearances in back-to-back campaigns. The batted-ball metrics, while not elite, largely support his outstanding results.
Smith made a statement upon arrival to the majors and has quickly established himself among the top handful of catchers in the league. He's done it by hitting about 25 homers over a full season with an acceptable batting average (career .262). He's had two short seasons and one full one so far and the results have been consistent. While his flyball approach will limit his batting average (career 29.6 GB%), he keeps getting on base with an 11.5 BB%. He has major upside if/when the league implements the designated hitter in the National League. Instead of having to rest on his off days from catching, he can fill in as the DH. Smith has the talent to be the league's top catcher and the big difference between him and the catchers being taken after him is that he can make a huge difference by season's end.
Smith began the season in a timeshare with Austin Barnes. On Aug. 14, he was placed on the IL with a sore neck, slashing just .188/.341/.406 at the time. There were signs Smith would snap out of it as he was only fanning at a 12.2% clip while walking at a 19.5% pace to that point. Smith was back in action after the minimum stay and things began to click. The backstop slashed .329/.427/.646 after returning, playing nearly every day by season's end. He led all catchers over 100 PA with a 163 wRC+, supported by a Statcast ranking in the pertinent categories of at least 80th percentile, most 88th or higher. Smith will be challenged to match that over a full season, and needs to work on his framing, but he's still one of best hitting catchers in the league, slotting in the meat of the Dodgers' lineup. Despite subpar defense, a case can be made for Smith being the second-best catcher in fantasy.
Austin Riley is the first to come to mind when thinking of players who started hot upon arrival before fading, but Smith followed a similar path. After getting the call to be the Dodgers' primary backstop in late July, Smith went off for nine homers in 19 games, driving in 25 runs in 62 at-bats. He then hit .183/.277/.305 over his final 26 regular-season games and ended his year by going 1-for-13 in the NLCS. Smith's strong strikeout rate from Triple-A did not carry over, as he fanned at a 26.5% clip with the major-league team, though it's important to note that Smith has a history of making adjustments and cutting down on his K-rate in his second go at a level. A first-round pick in 2016, Smith has always been able to take a walk and he's a plus behind the plate. There's upside here but downside too, as the Dodgers may not be patient if Smith starts in a similar fashion to how he finished 2019.
More Fantasy News
Will start in Game 6
CLos Angeles Dodgers
October 20, 2024
Smith (hand) will start behind home plate and bat eighth for Game 6 of the NLCS against the Mets on Sunday, Noah Camras of DodgersNation.com reports.
ANALYSIS
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X-rays negative on left hand
CLos Angeles Dodgers
Hand
October 19, 2024
Manager Dave Roberts said Saturday that Smith received X-rays on his left hand after taking a foul ball off his catching hand in Game 5 of the NLCS against the Mets, Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times reports.
ANALYSIS
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Resting in finale
CLos Angeles Dodgers
September 29, 2024
Smith is not in Sunday's lineup against the Rockies.
ANALYSIS
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Gets breather Friday
CLos Angeles Dodgers
September 27, 2024
Smith is not in the starting lineup for Friday's game against the Rockies, David Vassegh of AM 570 LA Sports reports.
ANALYSIS
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On base three times
CLos Angeles Dodgers
September 25, 2024
Smith went 2-for-3 with a walk and a run scored in Tuesday's loss to the Padres.
ANALYSIS
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Latest Fantasy Rumors
Significant deferrals in extension
CLos Angeles Dodgers
March 28, 2024
Smith's 10-year, $140 million extension with the Dodgers includes $50 million in deferred money, reports Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic.
ANALYSIS
It's not a surprise to see deferrals included in a deal by the Dodgers given the massive deferrals in Shohei Ohtani's $700 million contract, but the figures for Smith aren't nearly as eye-catching. The 29-year-old has been one of the best catchers in baseball since debuting in 2019 with an .842 OPS in 486 career games, so it's certainly a well-earned extension.
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