MILWAUKEE — Hidden somewhere in the long shadow cast by Shohei Ohtani’s extended slump is Will Smith.
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Smith has been even less productive offensively than Ohtani this postseason. Going into Game 2 of the National League Championship Series against the Milwaukee Brewers on Monday, Smith had just one hit – a single in the third inning of Game 3 in the NL Division Series against the Atlanta Braves – in 19 at-bats with just one walk and seven strikeouts.
“It’s been five games,” Smith said, dismissing the significance of his .053 batting average this October. “Obviously (I) want the results to be a little better. But at the end of the day, it’s five games at the plate. No panic from me. So I’ll be fine.”
During the NLDS, the Dodgers dropped Ohtani from his accustomed spot atop the lineup, batting him lower than first or second for the first time since September of 2020 with the Angels. Ohtani has batted fifth once and fourth three times in the past four games through Monday.
After the NLCS opener, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was asked about Smith’s slump and indicated he was considering a similar lineup change with him. For Game 2, he dropped Smith from third to fifth with Teoscar Hernandez moving up.
“He’s not swinging the bat well,” Roberts acknowledged. “It’s hard because the body of work, and he just has that knack to get a hit, to get a big hit.”
Roberts dismissed out of hand the idea that he would bench Smith and start Hunter Feduccia – if for no other reason than Smith’s value behind the plate.
“Catchers in general are – I think it’s the most important position on the field,” Game 1 starting pitcher Tarik Skubal said when asked about Smith. “They’re the ones calling pitches, dictating game flow, rhythm, all that type of stuff.
“I don’t even know how he’s performing offensively, to be honest. That’s not where my focus is with Will. My focus is what he’s doing behind the dish, and he’s very important to calling games. … He’s very important to the entire pitching staff.”
Smith missed a large chunk of the regular season with an inflamed disc in his neck but came back healthy. He points to a strong finish in September – he hit .354 (17 for 48) with four home runs in his last 16 games of the regular season – as proof that his current slump is just a five-game detour.
“I felt really good the last month, the last couple weeks especially,” he said. “I still feel good up there – swinging at the right pitches, taking good pitches, just barely missing balls. Pitchers are making good pitches to me.”
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Smith said there is only one way out of his slump – “continue to work, try to grind it out in the cage and figure it out.”
“I feel like I’ve earned everyone’s trust here,” Smith said. “It’s the postseason. It’s five games. So it’s a little more elevated. I really don’t think there’s much to it.”
FAMILIAR FACES
After their loss in Game 1, the Dodgers talked up the value of facing the Brewers’ high-leverage relievers for 4⅔ innings early in the series.
“I guess the only solace is you got them in the game, you got to take a look,” Roberts said after the game. “Hopefully in a long series it could prove to be beneficial the more times we see them.”
Brewers manager Pat Murphy turned to his best setup man, Abner Uribe, in each of the Brewers’ first five postseason games (including the sixth inning in Game 1, when he stranded two Dodgers baserunners). The risk of overexposure is real, Murphy said. But you have to go with your best.
“Sometimes there’s nothing else you can do,” Murphy said. “You have to give your team the best chance to win. … Familiarity, as we know, as the numbers tell us, does provide an edge when you know them better. So what we try to do is make sure they don’t face the same guys the next time they pitch if they’re the one-inning guys. Can’t always do that, but we try like hell.
“I do think it’s an advantage, but what were we to do last night differently? What could we have done? How could we have avoided that?
“There might be a point where you go ‘This guy has seen Uribe three times’ and Uribe might have something up his sleeve based on how those other two times went. He might have something up his sleeve like, ‘Well, I never gave him this or I never did this.’ So those are all things you’re weighing.”
UP NEXT
NLCS Game 3 – Brewers (LHP Robert Gasser, 0-0, 2.25 ERA) at Dodgers (LHP Blake Snell, 0-0, 2.45 ERA), Wednesday, 5 p.m., FS1, 570 AM
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