The entire Mets offense struggled once again on Friday night, but it was another tough day for Dominic Smith, who went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts to drop his season OPS to .661.
Smith's dreadful offensive production this season is a significant decline from previous seasons, as he had a career year with a .993 OPS last year after an .881 OPS in 2019. His struggles continue to be perplexing, as manager Luis Rojas and the coaching staff try to help what was supposed to be one of the team's most prolific bats finally get going.
"Up and down," Rojas said of Smith's season so far. "We saw him swinging good when we were on the Arizona/San Diego trip. It's been kind of scattered when he shows up…it's just been up and down."
Smith has been chasing pitches out of the zone at his highest rate since his rookie year, and he has struggled badly to square up the baseball, as his barrel rate has been cut in half since last season, per Statcast.
"Not involving his lower half as much," Rojas said. "We talked a bit about that yesterday about his lower half, and he's looking for that. He's looking to have his lower half more involved so he's more balanced, he ca probably stay back and make contact with those breaking balls that he got repeatedly from McGowan in the eighth. But he just couldn't stop and stay back…that's where the lower half is just disconnected a little bit."
Pitchers have increased their breaking ball usage against Smith by six percent this year, and he has struggled to make the necessary adjustments. But a drop-off this significant has to be concerning for the Mets, who were hoping that last year was the first of many All-Star caliber seasons to come for the former first-round pick.
Instead, Smith's production has slipped to the point where he doesn't have a set place in the lineup, rather Rojas has said he will go with "the hot hand" in left field the rest of the way.
"It's just been an up and down year," Rojas said. "He's one of those guys that is looking for that consistency, like a lot of guys on our roster."
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
Follow WFAN on Social Media
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Twitch
