Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Will Smith made himself the hero with a go-ahead, game-winning homer Saturday, and his teammates loved it.
Smith has three hits for the Dodgers this season, two of which sailed over the fence. He’s slashing .273/.273/.818 this year, and is leading the team with five RBIs.
The catcher has constantly come up in big situations for the Dodgers throughout the past couple of seasons, most notably with his go-ahead solo homer in Game 7 of the World Series. Manager Dave Roberts credited Smith’s approach for his success in the clutch.
“I think the heartbeat makes him reliable in those situations,” Roberts said. “I think his ability to spoil pitches, to put the bat on the ball, he doesn’t chase very much, so he trusts his swing to see the ball a little bit longer with two strikes in big moments, and then when he gets a pitch he can handle, then he feels convicted to take a good swing.”
Miguel Rojas, another Dodgers World Series hero, also claimed Smith’s quality of at-bat directly correlated to his positive results.
“It’s never a doubt that he’s going to fight in his at-bats,” Rojas said. “As soon as you start seeing (him) spitting on those sliders below the zone and he’s fouling the fastball up, there’s nothing that (opponents) have to beat him with.”
While Smith’s approach in those moments is definitely a contributor for his recent successes, but third baseman Max Muncy believes the All-Star has something you can’t teach.
“Baseball’s a hard game, and when moments get big like that, your heart rate tends to rise,” Muncy said. “He’s got a pretty good ability to just kind of slow things down. When you’re able to slow things down in those moments, you generally put yourself in a good spot. He’s just really, really good at doing that. It’s an ability that not everyone has, but he definitely has it.”
The Dodgers will hope Smith can continue to use his strengths to get the Dodgers wins as the season goes on, as they’re chasing the franchise’s first three-peat this season. Their next challenge in their journey to a historical championship[ comes against the Cleveland Guardians on Monday at 7:10 p.m. PT.
