September 4: Smith has been outrighted to Triple-A Louisville, in keeping with his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He has the proper to elect free company although it’s not but clear if he has chosen to take action.
September 2: The Reds introduced that they’ve recalled outfielder Blake Dunn from Triple-A Louisville. In a corresponding transfer, first baseman Dominic Smith has been designated for project. The membership’s 40-man roster depend drops to 39.
Smith, 29, was with the Reds for simply over every week. He signed with them on August 22 and has since taken 29 plate appearances over 9 video games, hitting simply .192/.276/.269 in that point. That’s clearly not nice manufacturing nevertheless it’s additionally not a significant pattern dimension to attract conclusions from.
The truth that Smith is now being bumped from the roster would possibly say extra concerning the group than about him. The Reds had been 5.5 video games again of a playoff spot when Smith was signed however they’ve since fallen to 9.5 video games again. With their playoff hopes now basically dashed, there’s little use for an impending free agent like Smith, particularly one with no actual defensive versatility. They’ll as an alternative use their remaining video games to provide taking part in time to gamers attempting to earn roles on subsequent yr’s membership, akin to Dunn.
Smith has greater than sufficient service time to reject an outright project, so he’ll doubtless be a free agent within the coming days, both by a launch or by him exercising his proper to go for the open market. Previous to his disappointing stint in Cincinnati, he had a greater run in Boston. In 84 video games for the Purple Sox, he hit .237/.317/.390 for a wRC+ of 96, indicating he was 4% beneath league common.
He might maybe attempt to latch on some other place for the rest of the season, although he received’t be postseason eligible with a brand new membership because it’s now after the September 1 closing date. Golf equipment out of competition just like the Reds would in all probability desire to provide taking part in time to controllable gamers. Smith had a powerful run in 2019-20, hitting .299/.366/.571 over these two seasons, nevertheless it’s been a tough trip aspect since then. In over 1,500 journeys to the plate from 2021 to the current, he’s hit .241/.311/.360 for a wRC+ of 86.
