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MILWAUKEE –– Pressed on Monday morning about his glaring 1-for-19 slump at the plate to begin this year’s playoffs, Dodgers catcher Will Smith did his best to downplay the narrative.
“It’s been five games,” the three-time All-Star said. “Obviously, 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.”
The same can’t be said of the Dodgers’ fan base, where frustrations once focused on Shohei Ohtani’s injury-hampered form suddenly shifted to Smith’s even more dire struggles during a Game 1 loss in the National League Championship Series on Sunday, in which he went 0-for-3 and hit into a first-inning double-play.
Evidently, Smith’s slump has raised concerns among the team’s decision-makers, as well, as he was dropped from the No. 3 to No. 5 spot in the batting order for Game 2 on Monday.
“He’s not swinging the bat well,” manager Dave Roberts acknowledged Sunday night.
“Just [have to] do what I do, continue to work, try to grind it out in the cage, and figure it out,” Smith added.
Only, Smith insisted he doesn’t feel as bad as his numbers indicate –– even though he has the second-lowest average (.053) of all hitters with at least 10 at-bats this postseason.
The 31-year-old said his swing “felt really good” coming into the playoffs, after he finished an injury-plagued regular season (he missed almost all of June, July and August with a neck injury) batting .354 over his final 16 games.
He believes he has been “just barely missing some pitches” and played the “pitchers are making good pitches to me” card while explaining his cold spell.
“I still feel good up there,” he said. “Swinging at the right pitches, taking good pitches.”
Sunday’s NLCS opener did come with at least a few more signs of promise.
All three of the balls he put in play were hit 95 mph or harder; a threshold he had only eclipsed once during the NL Division Series against the Atlanta Braves. He didn’t strike out, snapping a previous three-game streak with multiple punchouts (seven total). His last time up, he even drew a walk, earning his first free pass of October.
However, despite Roberts indicating reluctance on Sunday night to dropping Smith in the order, the catcher swapped places with Teoscar Hernández for a Game 2 showdown with Brewers breakout rookie pitcher Logan Henderson.
“I feel like I’ve earned everyone’s trust here,” Smith said when asked about his place in the order. “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.”
Dodgers pitchers have praised Smith’s defensive work behind the dish, where he has shepherded the team’s staff to a 2.05 ERA in the playoffs.
“I don’t even know how he’s performing offensively, to be honest,” Game 1 starter Tarik Skubal said. “That’s not where my focus is with Will. My focus is what he’s doing behind the dish. He’s very important to calling games.”
Still, the Dodgers will need to his Smith’s bat going.
He was one of their most consistent producers in last year’s playoffs, collecting at least one hit in 12 of his 15 games (he batted .276 overall) while belting two home runs in the World Series (including, memorably, a go-ahead blast in extra innings of Game 7).
Right now, they will need that version of him again, especially against a Brewers pitching staff that limited the Dodgers to one run in Game 1 while stranding nine runners on base.
“I think it’s more so just the game of baseball,” Smith said of his sudden struggles. “There’s highs. There’s lows. When you’re not performing the way you want to, just continue to work, continue to try to get out of it quicker, and not stay hitting poorly.”