Mets to non-tender Dom Smith

The Mets are set to non-tender Dom Smith this evening, as teams must make decisions on whether or not to tender their arbitration-eligible players contracts for the 2023 season by 8 PM EST. The 27-year-old Smith broke out back in the 2019 season and put up a very strong campaign in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, too.

Over the past two years, however, Smith struggled mightily at the plate. In 2021, he hit just .244/.304/.363 with 11 home runs and an 86 wRC+ in 493 plate appearances. This year, he fared far worse than that, hitting .194/.276/.284 with zero home runs and a 67 wRC+ in just 152 major league plate appearances. Those struggles landed him in Triple-A Syracuse for the majority of his season, as he made 248 plate appearances at that level.

A first-round pick by the Mets in the 2013 draft, Smith has always been a likable player. On top of being enjoyable to watch on the field, he was a member of the fan-favorite Queens Cookie Club. And to speak to his character, Smith made the choice to speak out about his own experiences with racism following the murder of George Floyd in the summer of 2020.