LOS ANGELES — When Will Smith signed a 10-year, $140 million contract extension with the Dodgers before the start of the season, he knew he had a chance to be one of the best catchers on a team that has had plenty of stars at the position.
Smith has a long way to go before he joins the ranks of those names, but he’s off to a pretty good start: With three home runs on Friday, he became just the fourth catcher in Dodgers history to accomplish the feat, joining Roy Campanella, Mike Piazza and Yasmani Grandal.
But Smith’s exploits didn’t end there. On Saturday, during the Dodgers’ game against the Brewers at Dodger Stadium, Smith hit a two-run homer in the first inning off right-hander Freddy Peralta. The homer gave Smith four consecutive home runs in four at-bats, tying an AL/NL record. He is the first Dodgers player to do so since Adrian Gonzalez did so on April 7 and 8, 2015. Smith is just the third catcher in AL/NL history to achieve this feat, joining Johnny Bench (1973) and Benito Santiago (1996).
“I’ve always been a guy that just tries to do things my way no matter what the situation is at the time,” Smith said. “If you stick with it, good things will happen. It doesn’t always happen, but yeah, I was able to get two points.”
Smith looked to make more history in his second at-bat of the game, sending center fielder Blake Perkins to the warning track with a four-seam fastball high under the zone.
“He’s been very consistent but he doesn’t get the recognition he deserves as one of the top two catchers in baseball,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.
Until this weekend’s series against the Brewers, Smith hadn’t made the offensive impact the Dodgers have become accustomed to since taking over as their starting catcher in 2020. Unusually, he had hit just two home runs so far in June.
Still, Roberts praised Smith for working through the difficulties. Smith’s ability to persevere through tough times is a big reason the Dodgers decided to invest in him long-term. The fact that he can hit four home runs in a 24-hour span and turn a game around helps, too.
“He’s been through a lot of hits, a lot of big games, big series, but he’s been able to use the whole field and get walks when he needs to, even with good pitchers coming at him, he’s controlling the zone,” Roberts said. “… Even his outs are really quality at-bats.”
Smith got the team going, but Miguel Vargas got the biggest hit of the night. With the game tied 3-3 going into the eighth inning, the Brewers turned to left-hander Brian Hudson, who has played an All-Star-caliber first half since being acquired by Milwaukee after being drafted in the offseason by the Dodgers to make room for Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
With the Brewers turning to lefties, Roberts turned to Vargas on the bench, who responded with a solo homer just over the outstretched arm of lefty Christian Yelich to give the Dodgers a 4-3 lead before Shohei Ohtani smashed his NL-leading 28th of the season to add another run.
“It feels great,” Vargas said. “I’ve been patient and I’ve worked on myself to earn an opportunity like this and I’m grateful I got this opportunity and was able to succeed.”
Vargas hasn’t seen much playing time for the Dodgers since being promoted from Triple-A on June 17, a controversial decision given the hitting struggles of Chris Taylor, Kiké Hernández and Cavan Biggio, who all got consistent minutes over the past two weeks.
But with Max Muncy still months away from an oblique injury and Jason Heyward out several weeks with a bone bruise in his left knee, Vargas is expected to play more left field and possibly third base. Vargas started Friday and will start Sunday, and so far the Cuban utility man has made the most of his opportunities.
“100 percent, it’s hard,” Vargas said when asked if it’s hard not to get frustrated with his lack of playing time. “But at the end of the day, this is a team sport, that’s why we’re doing it. All I can control is worrying about myself and being ready when the time comes.”
