Amid resurgent year and batting title push, Will

ATLANTA — The hierarchy of stars was apparent even in the desk preparations.

At an All-Star Game media day occasion on Monday at the Roxy Coca-Cola Theater in Atlanta, the Dodgers’ 5 All-Star representatives have been in the identical space of the massive venue.

In the first row, basking under massive spotlights close to an elevated stage, Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Clayton Kershaw have been positioned entrance and heart, anticipated to entice so many reporters that retractable ropes lined the perimeter of their podiums.

Several toes behind them, in the shadows of a balcony overhang, sat Will Smith and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

An apparent A-List, adopted by a clear B-group.

And even then, where Yamamoto’s media contingent stretched a number of rows deep, Smith’s hardly ever swelled past a few people.

He was a third-time All-Star, National League starter and batting title contender — once again relegated to the background of the game’s public consciousness.

“He’s up there as far as being overlooked,” Dodgers supervisor and NL All-Star skipper Dave Roberts stated of his ever-present but simply forgotten backstop. “You know what you’re going to get, but you probably don’t appreciate it as much as you should.”

Appreciated, Smith has not been this year. Not totally, at the very least.

Entering the All-Star break, the 30-year-old slugger is a distant chief in the NL batting race, sporting a .323 mark that outpaces the next closest certified hitter (his just lately slumping teammate, Freeman) by a whopping 26 factors.

Smith also has 12 home runs, 46 RBIs, and a .965 OPS (which trails only his two-way teammate, Ohtani) in addition to a 15% stroll fee (fifth-best in the league).

According to Fangraphs’ all-encompassing wRC+ metric, only Yankees famous person Aaron Judge and Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh have been more productive hitters this season.

And he’s performed it all while shepherding a banged-up Dodgers pitching workers, serving to keep the staff atop the NL West despite it having used 35 completely different arms through the first half of the year.

“For him to go out there, catching these guys, having your team in first place, and then you’re hitting .325, I don’t think people are paying attention to that,” Freeman stated Monday, peering through a forest of reporters to catch a glimpse of Smith over his shoulder. “People are gonna tune into the All-Star Game, they’ll throw his numbers up on the TV, and they’re gonna be like, ‘Whoa, that’s a really good season.’”

But for as properly as Smith has performed, the seven-year veteran stays considerably obscured from the public highlight.

He is, as Roberts jokingly places it, probably the most “vanilla” of the staff’s assortment of highlight expertise. He doesn’t have jaw-dropping highlights like Ohtani. He doesn’t have a signature World Series second such as Freeman. He isn’t excelling at a new place such as Mookie Betts. And even when he’s swarmed by reporters around the ballpark, it’s normally to subject questions about catching the Dodgers’ star Japanese trio of Ohtani, Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki.

“Honestly, I don’t really care,” he stated Monday. “That stuff has never been important to me. Being ‘the guy’ or not, any of that. I show up, play baseball every day, try to help the team win, try to be a good teammate, try to lead the pitchers, and ultimately try to win a World Series every year. That’s what’s important to me.”

This year, Smith was voted an All-Star starter for the first time by followers. But, he isn’t even probably the most talked about catcher at this week’s festivities in Atlanta, overshadowed again by Raleigh and his 38 first-half home runs — making the slugger affectionately recognized as “Big Dumper,” who also gained the Home Run Derby on Monday evening, the best present catcher in baseball in the eyes of many around the game.

“Will’s just always kind of really under the radar, for whatever reason,” Kershaw stated. “He’s been unbelievable for us, at a position that’s really important and very demanding.”

For Smith, the true pleasure of this year has merely been his health.

Two years in the past, he slumped mightily in the second half of 2023 (ending the year with a .797 OPS) while battling a damaged rib he had suffered that April. This spring, Roberts revealed that Smith’s underwhelming efficiency in 2024 (when he posted more profession lows with a .248 average and .760 OPS) was hampered by an ankle harm that again plagued his second-half efficiency.

“The last couple years, I had some, not major things, but some tough injuries,” Smith stated. “But that’s my decision to play through them.”

Now, however, he’s back at full bodily capability, permitting him to work counts (he has virtually as many walks, 45, as strikeouts, 55), punish fastballs (a pitch he struggled against the final two years) and keep probably the most constant manufacturing of any hitter in the Dodgers’ juggernaut lineup.

“I just feel like I have a really good understanding of my swing right now,” Smith stated. “It’s a long season, it comes and goes. But for whatever reason this year, I’ve been able to keep it more than I haven’t. So that’s been fun. Credit to the hitting coaches as well for keeping me in that spot. I just have a really good understanding of what I’m doing up there.”

In his usually modest fashion, Smith sidestepped a query about his possibilities of successful the batting title, one thing no catcher has performed since Buster Posey in 2012.

“I’ve never been one to chase awards or anything,” he stated. “I think when you do that, it probably doesn’t go your way, you put too much pressure [on yourself]. So just trying to have one good at-bat at a time, help the team win that day.”

At his present tempo, he may very well be a recipient for MVP votes for the first time in his profession as properly, although the Dodgers’ cautious management of his taking part in time has left him ranked ninth in the NL in wins above substitute to this level, according to Fangraphs.

“What he’s doing is Buster Posey-ish, Joe Mauer-ish,” Freeman stated, citing the only different backstop this century with a batting title (Mauer gained three with Minnesota in the late 2000s). “When you’re leading the league in hitting and you’re catching, it’s really hard to do. You’re calling games. It’s almost like they’re more worried about putting up a zero than they are about hitting.”

In time, Freeman believes, Smith’s Q-rating will proceed to rise, particularly if he retains replicating the type of numbers he has posted this season.

“I think it just takes maybe a couple times [being here at the All-Star Game],” Freeman stated. “We all know in L.A. how special he is. Obviously, the front office extended him 10 years. So, hopefully now that he’s starting in the All-Star Game, he’s gonna get that national recognition.”

But even if he doesn’t, he hardly appears to be bothered by his second-tier (and, on Monday, second-row) standing.

“I just think he’s resolved to not having to be at the forefront,” Roberts stated. “He doesn’t ever self-promote. He doesn’t need notoriety or attention. He just wants to win. Some players thrive on getting attention. He’s certainly not one of those guys.”