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Dominic Smith, first baseman for the St. Lucie Mets, now has some hardware to put on his mantel. The 20-year-old is taking home the Florida State League MVP award. Smith earned the honor by hitting .305/.354/.417 over 118 games, with six home runs, 33 doubles, and a league leading 79 RBIs. He is also ninth in batting average and thirteenth in slugging percentage.
Smith was taken 11th overall in the 2013 amateur draft and was said to be one the best pure hitters in the draft class. Scouts believed Smith to be a player who would hit for average with developing power. ESPN's baseball expert, Keith Law, recently had Smith ranked number 40 on his Top 50 midseason prospects list.
Despite a sluggish start in April in which Smith hit just .220/.256/.244, he rebounded to be named the FSL player of the month in June. He mashed the ball, hitting .352 with a league high 38 hits.
Smith spent all of last season with the Savannah Sand Gnats and in 126 games hit .271/.344/.388 with just one home run and 44 runs driven in. Now that Smith has had a full season of High-A under his belt, he will likely begin next season in Double-A with the Binghamton Mets.