Pavin Smith is finally getting the chance to take a consistent role in 2025. With the left-handed part of the designated hitter vacant with Joc Pederson's departure, Smith is expected to fill that role.
It was a move that was in the works given the season he had in 2024. In a limited sample size of 158 plate appearances, he hit .270 with nine home runs and a .896 OPS. Because of that success, he'll have the opportunity to be the primary DH against right-handed pitchers while Randal Grichuk serves as the defacto DH vs. lefties in 2025.
"I don't think I'm trying to be like Joc," said Smith on Bickley and Marotta. "I just try to focus on what I do and not worry about how well Joc did in that role last year."
Against righties he put up a .282/.356/.564, which FanGraphs rates as 48% better than the average hitter with a 148 wRC+. That's why the Diamondbacks felt they'd be fine letting Pederson walk.
While Smith is unlikely to replicate Pederson's 2024 season, but if he can repeat his 2024 season it will be more than enough for the team.
Smith talks about the mindset of being a DH and how he handles it.
"I think a lot of people have to learn how to play DH because it's the only thing you're doing the whole day, so you're thinking about it a lot. If you don't have a good game, you feel like you've done nothing to help the team. It's definitely a learning curve I've had success with, you try not to dwell on your last at-bat because you have a lot of time to think about it."
In-between at-bats, Smith will go to the cage and talk to the hitting coaches. Some of those topics don't necessarily involve baseball but down there they'll doing extra scouting reports on the starter or possible relievers coming into the game later. He mentioned being able to hit in the cage before his at-bat as an advantage.
Smith is viewed as a breakout candidate for the Diamondbacks in much part due to his strong underlying metrics in 2024. He set career-bests in exit velocity, hard-hit rate, barrel rate, and launch angle sweet spot rate. With the expanded role, he'll see three times as many plate appearances per season, so it will be interesting to see how those metrics translate to a bigger role.