Smith is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Marlins.
The Dodgers are playing a day game after a night game, so it makes sense for manager Dave Roberts to give Smith the afternoon off to rest his legs. Austin Barnes will handle the catching duties Wednesday as the Dodgers go for the series sweep.
... See More... See Less
Dodgers' Will Smith: Getting rest day
Rotowire
Smith is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against Atlanta.
Unless he makes a plate appearance off the bench, Smith will put his eight-game hitting streak on hold and get a breather after he was behind the plate for each of the Dodgers' previous five contests. Austin Barnes will handle the catching duties in the series finale.
... See More... See Less
Dodgers' Will Smith: Continues power surge
Rotowire
Smith went 1-for-5 with a solo home run Wednesday in an 8-0 win over Arizona.
Smith hit one of two homers in the game for Los Angeles, taking Jordan Montgomery deep to left field for a fifth-inning solo shot. The All-Star catcher went deep just once over his first 23 games of the season but has picked up the power since, swatting three long balls over his past five contests. Smith has complemented his four homers on the campaign with a .355/.395/.555 slash line, 24 RBI and 18 runs over 124 plate appearances.
... See More... See Less
Dodgers' Will Smith: Swats solo shot Monday
Rotowire
Smith went 1-for-4 with a solo home run, an additional run and a walk in Monday's 8-4 victory against the Diamondbacks.
Smith padded the Dodgers' lead in the sixth inning with a 407-foot solo blast to center field. It was the backstop's second long ball in three games after he went deep just once over his first 23 contests of the campaign. Though he's been pretty quiet in the power department thus far, Smith is having an outstanding start to the season, slashing .363/.404/.539 with 22 RBI and 16 runs through 114 plate appearances.
... See More... See Less
Dodgers' Will Smith: Receives day off
Rotowire
Smith is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Blue Jays.
After starting behind the plate Friday and Saturday, Smith will get a breather as the Dodgers wrap up their series in Canada with a day game. Austin Barnes will handle catching duties for the Dodgers on Sunday.
... See More... See Less
Dodgers' Will Smith: Homer, four hits in win
Rotowire
Smith went 4-for-5 with a home run, a double and three total RBI in Friday's 12-2 victory over the Blue Jays.
Smith slugged a solo home run off Trevor Richards in the fourth inning, his second long ball of the year. It's Smith's second straight four-hit game (he's gone 8-for-11 with three extra-base hits in that span) and already his fourth this season. The 29-year-old backstop is off to an excellent start, slashing a robust .376/.413/.527 with 21 RBI and 14 runs scored through his first 104 plate appearances.
... See More... See Less
Dodgers' Will Smith: Receives rest day
Rotowire
Smith is out of the lineup for Thursday's game against the Nationals.
Smith will get a breather for the day game after he pounded out four hits, scored twice and drove in a run in Wednesday night's 11-2 win. Austin Barnes will fill in for Smith behind the plate.
... See More... See Less
Dodgers' Will Smith: Sitting out Saturday
Rotowire
Smith is not in the Dodgers' lineup Saturday against the Mets.
Smith will get a breather after starting in the series opener Friday, when he went 2-for-4 with a double, one run and one walk. Austin Barnes will start behind the plate and bat ninth against Mets right-hander Jose Butto.
... See More... See Less
Dodgers' Will Smith: Resting Tuesday
Rotowire
Smith isn't in the Dodgers' lineup Tuesday versus the Nationals, David Vassegh of AM 570 LA Sports reports.
After going 1-for-3 with two RBI in Monday's series opener, Smith will get a breather Tuesday despite southpaw Patrick Corbin starting on the mound for Washington. Austin Barnes will start behind the plate instead and bat ninth.
Smith went 2-for-5 with a three-run home run and an additional run scored in Tuesday's 6-3 win over the Twins.
Smith singled and later came around to score on three-run homer by James Outman in the top of the fourth inning before launching a three-run shot of his own the following frame. The long ball was the catcher's first of the season, but he's out to a red-hot start to 2024 overall, batting .400 with five extra-base hits and 12 RBI over 50 at-bats in 12 contests.
... See More... See Less
Dodgers' Will Smith: Gets breather Wednesday
Rotowire
Smith is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Twins, Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reports.
Smith will get some rest after he started behind the plate each of the past three days while going 3-for-13 with a home run, four RBI and an additional run. Austin Barnes draws the starting nod at catcher in the series finale in Minnesota.
... See More... See Less
Dodgers' Will Smith: Resting Saturday
Rotowire
Smith isn't in the Dodgers' lineup Saturday versus the Cubs, Bill Plunkett of The Orange County Register reports.
Smith will catch a breather after going 4-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored during Friday's loss in the series opener. Austin Barnes will fill in behind the plate Saturday and bat ninth.
... See More... See Less
Dodgers' Will Smith: Racks up four hits Friday
Rotowire
Smith went 4-for-5 with a double, a run and an RBI in Friday's loss to the Cubs.
Smith continues to hit the ball well early in the campaign, as he's slashing .459/.488/.568 through 41 plate appearances. Though he's yet to go deep, the All-Star catcher has collected four doubles and eight RBI. Smith and teammate Mookie Betts are tied for the MLB lead with 17 hits.
... See More... See Less
Dodgers' Will Smith: Receives Sunday off
Rotowire
Smith is out of the lineup for Sunday's game versus the Cardinals.
Smith has at least one hit in each of the first five games of the season and is coming off a three-hit performance Saturday, but he'll receive a breather in the series finale against St. Louis. Austin Barnes will step in behind the plate and bat ninth Sunday.
... See More... See Less
Dodgers' Will Smith: Tallies three hits Saturday
Rotowire
Smith went 3-for-5 with two RBI in Saturday's extra-inning loss to St. Louis.
Smith came through twice in run-scoring opportunities, knocking in a run with a single in the fifth inning and repeating the feat in the seventh. The All-Star catcher is off to a nice start to the campaign, collecting at least one hit in each of his first five games and slashing .455/.500/.545 with four RBI through 22 plate appearances. He's yet to sit out a contest and should have plenty of opportunities to produce this season while batting cleanup behind Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman.
Smith agreed Wednesday with the Dodgers on a 10-year, $140 million contract extension, Jeff Passan of ESPN.com reports.
Smith had been eligible for free agency after the 2025 season, but the extension -- the longest for a catcher in MLB history -- will keep him in Dodger blue through his age-38 campaign in 2033. Since posting a career-best .980 OPS in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, Smith's OPS has dropped in each of the last three seasons, but his .797 mark in 2023 was still good for fifth among all backstops who logged at least 400 plate appearances. The 29-year-old got off to a strong start to the regular season during last week's Seoul Series, going 5-for-10 with a double, a walk, two RBI and one run in the Dodgers' two games versus the Padres. Smith occupied the cleanup spot in both of those contests, and if health prevails in 2024, he should have a prime opportunity to surpass his previous career high of 87 RBI while hitting behind the likes of Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman.
... See More... See Less
Dodgers' Will Smith: Collects four hits Thursday
Rotowire
Smith went 4-for-6 with a double, a run and two RBI in Thursday's loss to the Padres in the second game of the Seoul Series.
After the Padres went ahead 5-0 in the top of the first inning, Smith put the Dodgers on the board with an RBI double in the bottom of the frame. He collected three singles the rest of the way -- including an RBI base knock in the seventh -- as he and Mookie Betts combined for half of the Dodgers' 16 total hits. Smith went 5-for-10 over the two-game, season-opening set in South Korea and appears to be fully recovered from the back issue that caused him to be scratched from Los Angeles' final Cactus League game March 13.
