Luis Rojas expects to finally play Dominic Smith in left on Friday for Mets

New York Mets player Dominic Smith gets ready for batting practice during a spring training workout Thursday, Feb. 25, 2021, in Port St. Lucie, FL. Credit: Newsday/Alejandra Villa Loarca
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. – You’ll have to forgive Dom Smith if he felt a little left out.
Smith is slated to be the Mets’ full-time leftfielder in the (as of now) designated-hitterless National League. But the Mets haven’t let him play the position in spring training games yet, preferring to keep the 25-year-old as either the DH or first baseman in a bid to keep him healthy for the regular season.
That should end on Friday. Manager Luis Rojas said he expects Smith to make his first appearance of spring training in left.
"We're in go-time now," Rojas said before the Mets faced the Astros on Thursday night with Smith in the lineup as the DH. "So we may see him in left tomorrow . . . We can talk about Dom spending a lot of time there in left for us in the regular season. We'll see him a few times at first, but the bottom line is we want to include Dom's bat in the lineup."
Smith suffered a stress fracture in his left foot in 2019, an injury the club attributes to his shuttling between left and first at a time when there was no DH in the NL.
Smith, who went 1-for-4 and is 2-for-15 with a home run, arrived to camp late for undisclosed reasons and missed the first two days of full-squad workouts. He’s taken plenty of flyballs in the outfield during drills, but understands why the Mets didn’t want him to play out there in games yet.
"I think it's a combination and a conversation that, obviously, the medical staff has with the coaching staff and then, obviously, with myself," he said. "We know that it’s a long season and it’s a 162-game marathon, so they're trying to – and they are -- putting the best plan together and making sure that I'm healthy the full season, that nothing flares up.
"Obviously, I came into camp a couple of days late. So I have some catching up to do as I make sure my legs are under me and, like I said, make sure that I don't run into any speed bumps along the way."
The stress fracture in 2019 was more than a speed bump. It cost Smith two months at a time when he was just beginning to establish himself as the super prospect worthy of being drafted 11th overall by the Mets in 2013.
"We all know having the stress fracture back in 2019, sidelining me for a couple months, freak injuries and stuff like that, some of those things can kind of be avoidable if we monitor my load and make sure that I’m not overworking," he said. "I like to work. I like to work hard. If it’s up to me, I’d be out on the field all day long. So they kind of have to monitor myself and kind of hold me back so I’m not overworking and fatiguing and hurting myself in the long run."
In 2020, Smith started 22 games at first, 21 games in left and five games as the DH. The Mets needed to keep that bat in the lineup as Smith hit .316 with 10 home runs, 42 RBIs and a .993 OPS.
The DH will not be available in NL games this season unless MLB and the union come to a last-minute agreement before the season begins on April 1.
The Mets are working under the assumption that there will be no last-minute deal (even though they are one of the teams that would most benefit having a DH for all 162 games). So Smith will have to roam the outfield grass when he and Pete Alonso are both in the lineup.
He says he’s ready.
"I feel fine," he said. "I feel healthy. I'm running around fine. I'm doing everything. I'm in all the drills. This is just a precaution to make sure that I don't run myself into the ground because you know if it was up to me, I would be playing every day from the day I got here and playing all nine innings. But, obviously, it's not my choice."