New York Yankees Dominic Smith celebrates his two-run home run with Ben Rice, left, in the fifth inning of a spring training baseball game against the Minnesota Twins in Fort Myers, Fla., Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)AP
Dominic Smith is about to find out how much the New York Yankees value his hot-hitting, left-handed bat.
According to SNY’s Andy Martino, Smith can opt out of his contract on Saturday if he is not added to the Yankees’ 40-man roster on Friday. Smith was signed in the offseason to a minor-league deal.
Smith has been one of the Yankees’ spring training standouts. In 13 games (38 plate appearances), Smith has batted .297/.289/.568 with three home runs and 12 RBIs.
With Giancarlo Stanton (tennis elbows) and DJ LeMahieu (calf injury) starting the season on the injured list, the Yankees have lineup spots to fill for Opening Day on March 27. Fangraphs projects Smith to win a bench role as a first base/outfield/DH option, which could also be held against him because he doesn’t have a lot of positional versatility … and …
Ben Rice (.260/.339/.560) with five home runs and nine RBIs in 16 games) has also seemingly earned an Opening Day role, and like Smith, he’s also a left-handed batter/DH-1B-type, and 26 years old, compared to Smith, who is 29.
The issue for the Yankees to start the season would be that their bench is likely to be three-quarters left-handed (catcher J.C. Escarra, outfielder Trent Grisham and Smith). Infielder Oswald Peraza appears to be their only right-handed hitter off the bench.
Smith, a high school draftee, made his major-league debut with the Mets in 2017 before Pete Alonso became entrenched as their first baseman two years later.
Smith broke out in 2020 as a part-time left fielder and first baseman (alongside Alonso) with a .316/.377/.616 line (168 OPS+) with 10 home runs and 42 RBIs. But he’s been a below-average offensive producer in the four major league seasons since and has spent considerable time in Triple-A in recent seasons.
In 693 major-league games and 2,266 plate appearances, Smith has a .246/.313/.403 line (97 OPS+) with 64 home runs and 259 RBIs. He batted .233/.313/.378 with six home runs and 34 RBIs in 307 plate appearances last season with the Boston Red Sox and Cincinnati Reds.
