Will Smith

Will Smith

31-Year-Old CatcherC
Los Angeles Dodgers
2026 Stats
AVG
.259
HR
3
RBI
16
R
12
SB
0
Rest-of-Season Projections
AVG
HR
RBI
R
SB
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2026 Fantasy Outlook
In a lineup with no fewer than three future Hall of Famers, Smith tends to get overlooked, but he's been a key piece in the Dodgers' success. The catcher set career highs in several categories in 2025, including batting average (.296) and OBP (.404), earning his third consecutive All-Star selection. He cleared 4.0 fWAR for the third time in five years despite falling short of 500 plate appearances for the first time this decade, as he missed the final few weeks of the regular season with a hairline fracture in his right hand. After being limited to pinch-hitting duties in the wild-card round, Smith returned to slash .276/.364/.414 with a couple home runs during the team's postseason run, including the go-ahead homer in Game 7 of the World Series. Promising youngster Dalton Rushing made his MLB debut in 2025, totaling 41 appearances at catcher (37 starts), but Smith remains the clear No. 1 option behind the plate and a regular middle-of-the-order presence for the best team in baseball. Too bad he can't DH on his off days. Read Past Outlooks
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RANKS
Rest of Season
#Subscriber-Only
Overall Rank
#Subscriber-Only
Dynasty
From Preseason
#95
ADP
League Majors
Bats R
Throws R
40 Man Yes
Height 5'10"
Weight 195
DOB 3/28/1995
Born Louisville, KY
College Louisville
Drafted 1st Rd 2016 LAD
Signed a 10-year, $140 million contract extension with the Dodgers in March of 2024.
Exiting starting nine
CLos Angeles Dodgers
May 6, 2026
Smith is absent from the lineup for Wednesday's contest in Houston.
Analysis
Smith started at catcher in the first two games of the series, so he will get some rest during Wednesday's matinee. Dalton Rushing will be behind the dish and bat seventh in the rubber match.
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Batting Stats
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2026 MLB Game Log
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Batting Order Slot Breakdown
vs Right-Handed Pitchers
vs RHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
14
6
vs Left-Handed Pitchers
vs LHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
1
4
1
Left/Right Batting Splits
Since 2024
 
 
+2%
OPS vs LHP
2026
 
 
+54%
OPS vs RHP
2025
 
 
+11%
OPS vs RHP
2024
 
 
+23%
OPS vs LHP
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2024vs Left .822 297 36 12 32 0 .251 .364 .458
Since 2024vs Right .802 803 117 28 120 3 .273 .355 .447
2026vs Left .492 30 1 0 1 0 .192 .300 .192
2026vs Right .760 90 11 3 15 0 .280 .333 .427
2025vs Left .836 112 12 4 10 0 .258 .384 .452
2025vs Right .924 324 52 13 51 2 .309 .410 .513
2024vs Left .876 155 23 8 21 0 .258 .361 .515
2024vs Right .715 389 54 12 54 1 .244 .314 .401
More Splits→ View More Split Stats
Minor League Splits→ View Minor League Split Stats
Home/Away Batting Splits
Since 2024
 
 
+1%
OPS at Home
2026
 
 
+7%
OPS at Home
2025
 
 
+17%
OPS at Home
2024
 
 
+16%
OPS on Road
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2024Home .812 544 80 23 79 2 .260 .357 .455
Since 2024Away .804 556 73 17 73 1 .275 .358 .446
2026Home .716 61 6 3 10 0 .246 .295 .421
2026Away .670 59 6 0 6 0 .275 .356 .314
2025Home .971 222 37 12 32 2 .306 .419 .552
2025Away .829 214 27 5 29 0 .285 .388 .441
2024Home .703 261 37 8 37 0 .226 .318 .385
2024Away .812 283 40 12 38 1 .268 .336 .476
More Splits→ View More Split Stats
Stat Review
How does Will Smith compare to other hitters?
This section compares his stats with all batting seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 400 plate appearances)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity and Barrels/PA % are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 400 PA) and Hard Hit Rate is benchmarked against last season's data (min 400 PA). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
  • BB/K
    Walk to strikeout ratio
  • BB Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a walk.
  • K Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a strikeout.
  • BABIP
    Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits.
  • ISO
    Isolated Power. Slugging percentage minus batting average. A computation used to measure a batter's raw power.
  • AVG
    Batting average. Hits divided by at bats.
  • OBP
    On Base Percentage. A measure of how often a batters reaches base. Roughly equal to number of times on base divided by plate appearances.
  • SLG
    Slugging Percentage. A measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats.
  • OPS
    On base plus slugging. THe sum of a batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
  • wOBA
    Weighted on-base average. Measures a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. wOBA combines all the different aspects of hitting into one metric, weighting each of them in proportion to their actual run value.
  • Exit Velocity
    The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
  • Hard Hit Rate
    A measure of contact quality from Sports Info Solutions. This stat explains what percentage of batted balls were hit hard vs. medium or soft.
  • Barrels/PA
    The percentage of plate appearances where a batter had a batted ball classified as a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
  • Expected BA
    Expected Batting Average.
  • Expected SLG
    Expected Slugging Percentage.
  • Sprint Speed
    The speed of a runner from home to first, in feet per second.
  • Ground Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are on the ground.
  • Line Drive %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are line drives.
  • Fly Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are fly balls.
BB/K
0.52
 
BB Rate
9.2%
 
K Rate
17.5%
 
BABIP
.294
 
ISO
.111
 
AVG
.259
 
OBP
.325
 
SLG
.370
 
OPS
.695
 
wOBA
.311
 
Exit Velocity
89.4 mph
 
Hard Hit Rate
35.2%
 
Barrels/PA
10.0%
 
Expected BA
.279
 
Expected SLG
.505
 
Sprint Speed
22.7 ft/sec
 
Ground Ball %
29.5%
 
Line Drive %
26.1%
 
Fly Ball %
44.3%
 
Prospect Rankings History
View Complete Will Smith Prospect Ranking History
Advanced Batting Stats
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Additional Stats
Games By Position
Defensive Stats
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Batted Ball Stats
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Stats Vs Upcoming Pitchers
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Dodgers Depth Chart
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Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring Will Smith See More
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Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring Will Smith See More
Past Fantasy Outlooks
2025
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
A player named Will Smith has now been in each of the last five World Series with this version book-ending the three consecutive appearances by his name twin on the mound. Smith finished the season as a top-five catcher and within the top 70 overall while resuming full-time catching duties. Smith was able to take days off at DH before the arrival of Shohei Ohtani, but that luxury was not there in 2024, so Smith caught in 121 games and appeared in seven more. His numbers did have a bit of a fall-off in the second half, no doubt in part to the resumption of all the time spent donning the infamous tools of ignorance. Smith's .272/.346/.492 first half line with 15 homers fell to .206/.295/.331 after the break. His .248 final average was the lowest of his career, but still a few points above the league average, mitigating that issue. Ohtani will not need to take all the DH time in 2025, so some half-days off should be available to Smith to keep him fresher throughout the season. After all, this is the only player with catcher eligibility who has had at least 500 plate appearances each of the past four seasons. You cannot beat that type of consistency and volume from a position of such scarcity.
Smith had yet another above average offensive season at the dish, especially when you consider he was the only primary catcher to score at least 80 runs last season and just the fifth catcher to do so in the past 15 seasons joining Realmuto, Posey, Martin, and Mauer. Early on, it appeared that Smith was on his way to a huge season as he went into the break with a .279/.396/.494 triple-slash line with 13 homers and 46 RBIs, but hit .242/.320/.381 with just 6 homers and 30 RBIs after the break. Smith's production and outcomes have been consistently impressive as he handles the strains of trying to slow down opposing running games Dodger pitchers struggled to adjust to the new environment. Smith throws very well, yet the league has swiped 118 bases when he has caught over the past two seasons because he is just one part of the equation. Smith and Realmuto are the only two catcher eligible players with at least 125 games played each of the past three seasons. Invest with confidence.
Perhaps no player in baseball is in a more favorable position than Smith. He was the primary cleanup hitter for a 111-win Dodgers team last season, batting behind the likes of Mookie Betts, Trea Turner and Freddie Freeman. Smith held up his end of the bargain with 24 homers and 87 RBI across 578 total plate appearances. He shaved nearly four points off his strikeout rate from his first full season in the majors and the bat is arguably worthy of more DH starts in the years to come (24 starts as the designated hitter in 2022). The rigors of catching make it tough for any backstop to stay healthy over the entire season, year-in and year-out, but Smith has now cleared 500 plate appearances in back-to-back campaigns. The batted-ball metrics, while not elite, largely support his outstanding results.
Smith made a statement upon arrival to the majors and has quickly established himself among the top handful of catchers in the league. He's done it by hitting about 25 homers over a full season with an acceptable batting average (career .262). He's had two short seasons and one full one so far and the results have been consistent. While his flyball approach will limit his batting average (career 29.6 GB%), he keeps getting on base with an 11.5 BB%. He has major upside if/when the league implements the designated hitter in the National League. Instead of having to rest on his off days from catching, he can fill in as the DH. Smith has the talent to be the league's top catcher and the big difference between him and the catchers being taken after him is that he can make a huge difference by season's end.
Smith began the season in a timeshare with Austin Barnes. On Aug. 14, he was placed on the IL with a sore neck, slashing just .188/.341/.406 at the time. There were signs Smith would snap out of it as he was only fanning at a 12.2% clip while walking at a 19.5% pace to that point. Smith was back in action after the minimum stay and things began to click. The backstop slashed .329/.427/.646 after returning, playing nearly every day by season's end. He led all catchers over 100 PA with a 163 wRC+, supported by a Statcast ranking in the pertinent categories of at least 80th percentile, most 88th or higher. Smith will be challenged to match that over a full season, and needs to work on his framing, but he's still one of best hitting catchers in the league, slotting in the meat of the Dodgers' lineup. Despite subpar defense, a case can be made for Smith being the second-best catcher in fantasy.
Austin Riley is the first to come to mind when thinking of players who started hot upon arrival before fading, but Smith followed a similar path. After getting the call to be the Dodgers' primary backstop in late July, Smith went off for nine homers in 19 games, driving in 25 runs in 62 at-bats. He then hit .183/.277/.305 over his final 26 regular-season games and ended his year by going 1-for-13 in the NLCS. Smith's strong strikeout rate from Triple-A did not carry over, as he fanned at a 26.5% clip with the major-league team, though it's important to note that Smith has a history of making adjustments and cutting down on his K-rate in his second go at a level. A first-round pick in 2016, Smith has always been able to take a walk and he's a plus behind the plate. There's upside here but downside too, as the Dodgers may not be patient if Smith starts in a similar fashion to how he finished 2019.
More Fantasy News
Knocks three hits Monday
CLos Angeles Dodgers
May 5, 2026
Smith went 3-for-5 with two doubles, a run and an RBI in an 8-3 win against Houston on Monday.
Analysis
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Getting Sunday off
CLos Angeles Dodgers
May 3, 2026
Smith is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Cardinals, Kirsten Watson of Spectrum SportsNet LA reports.
Analysis
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Resting up Wednesday
CLos Angeles Dodgers
April 29, 2026
Smith is out of the lineup for Wednesday's game against the Marlins.
Analysis
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Returning to lineup
CLos Angeles Dodgers
April 27, 2026
Smith (back) will start at catcher and bat third in Monday's game versus the Marlins.
Analysis
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On bench again Sunday
CLos Angeles Dodgers
Back
April 26, 2026
Smith (back) is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Cubs, Jack Harris of the California Post reports.
Analysis
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Latest Fantasy Rumors
Finalist for Silver Slugger
CLos Angeles Dodgers
November 1, 2025
Smith has been listed as a finalist for the Silver Slugger award at catcher in the National League, according to MLB.com.
Analysis
The other NL finalists at catcher are Hunter Goodman and William Contreras. Smith appeared in 110 games and logged 436 plate appearances during the 2025 regular season, hitting .296 with a .901 OPS, 17 homers, 61 RBI and 64 runs scored.
See All MLB Rumors