Despite nagging ankle issue, Will Smith feels | College News

PHOENIX — On June 8 final yr, during the Dodgers’ extremely anticipated midseason collection at Yankee Stadium, Will Smith ran exhausting attempting to beat a throw. As he neared second base he slid, left foot prolonged. Almost instantly after he hit the bottom he bent down in ache, having awkwardly rolled his ankle because it jammed towards the bag.

It wasn’t publicly revealed, however Smith suffered a bone bruise that resulted in ankle ache for the remaining of the season and continued discomfort all the best way into spring coaching.

“It just stuck around all year,” Smith mentioned, “and didn’t get better in the offseason.”

Chalk it up as one more factor that went awry for the Dodgers catcher final yr.

At the plate he posted profession lows in batting average (.248) and on-base-plus-slugging share (.760), failing to maintain a blistering opening month that helped him earn a second All-Star choice and slumping by way of a lot of the summer season months whereas struggling particularly towards four-seam fastballs.

Smith was nursing the nagging ankle harm, the second straight season he was much less than 100% and completed with an OPS below .800. In 2023 he suffered an early rib harm that continued to plague him the remaining of the season.

Smith’s ankle harm didn’t come to gentle till the beginning of camp, when supervisor Dave Roberts introduced that the 29-year-old backstop — who’s coming into the second season of the 10-year, $140-million extension he signed final March — would miss the beginning of Cactus League play to offer his ankle additional relaxation.

“I just don’t think it’s something that’s gonna go away anytime soon,” Roberts mentioned. “It just kind of is what it is.”

Smith made his spring debut Friday evening and mentioned his ankle felt 100% as he went 0 for 3 and spent 5 innings behind the plate within the Dodgers’ win towards the Angels. Less than three weeks out from the season-opening journey to Japan, there may be no concern about him lacking the beginning of the season.

But as Smith and the group strive to determine the explanations behind his drop in manufacturing and create a sport plan for a bounce-back efficiency, the ankle is one thing he must keep managing.

“You can do all sorts of treatment and everything,” Smith mentioned. “But the only thing that really heals it is rest.”

Exactly why his ankle has bothered him this long is unclear — “We’re looking more into why maybe it’s not going away,” he mentioned — however Roberts confirmed that surgical procedure by no means was an option.

“It’s a bone bruise that’s deep, clearly,” Roberts mentioned. “Four months hasn’t helped the pain go away.”

Neither Smith nor Roberts may say how a lot it influenced final yr’s struggles on the plate.

“It might have a little bit,” Smith mentioned. “But it didn’t hurt really the swing. Maybe I could’ve compensated. I don’t know. But running was the only thing it really affected.”

Roberts supplied a barely totally different perspective, saying he does “believe the foot was kind of impeding the swing.”

“He’ll never use that as an excuse,” Roberts mentioned. “But I think that certainly played a part.”

The excellent news: Smith mentioned his swing is in a higher spot than during the second half of final yr, one thing he credited to modifications in his mechanics; principally, staying more inside the ball to create “room for my hands to work.”

“There are definitely some mechanical things I was doing last year that I need to clean up,” Smith mentioned. “So worked on them all offseason. Feels good. Swing feels like it’s in a good spot.”

Roberts is hopeful the ankle can be much less of an obstacle, banking on the membership’s franchise catcher, who nonetheless is taken into account one of the best hitters at his place, with the ability to play at a high degree again.

“It’s one of those things that he’s just going to have to deal with it,” Roberts mentioned. “But I think right now he’s in a really good spot.”