Dominic Smith’s quest to return to being an everyday player remains unfulfilled, but whether such extended playing time will come with the Mets or with another team is beyond his control.
Smith talked about his desire to play more frequently for the Mets in a story published in Newsday on Thursday, but he also said in the report “if there’s a team out there that wants me to play and wants to let me play, I would love to play every day. That’s just how I feel about that.”
Asked to expand on those comments before again starting Thursday’s game against the Cardinals on the bench, Smith told The Post he “didn’t come out and say I want to go somewhere else.”
“I think everybody in this locker room would like to play every day,” Smith continued. “[Luis] Guillorme. J.D. [Davis], [Travis] Jankowski, myself. That’s what we all grind so hard at as a young kid, that’s what we dream about.
“I feel like if you meet any big-leaguer who’s OK with being on the bench, I just can’t see anybody saying that or happy to be a bench player. Everybody has their roles on a team, you have to be realistic with that, but there’s not too many guys walking around this league that are happy to be a bench guy.”
The release of Robinson Cano earlier this month seemingly opened up some at-bats for a left-handed hitter such as Smith, but Buck Showalter said Wednesday that is “not necessarily” the case.
To wit, Showalter started the righty-swinging Davis as the Mets’ designated hitter Thursday against St. Louis righty Dakota Hudson.
“All I can do is stay prepared and ready to play. That’s above my pay grade,” the 26-year-old Smith said. “I’m sure they feel they’re doing the best for the Mets to put us in the best position to win. If I worry about all those other things I probably won’t be able to focus or concentrate at the plate. I’ll just let it all play out. When I get called, I try my best, and then stay prepared for when I get called again.”
After going 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI in Wednesday’s 11-4 win, Smith entered Thursday’s game hitting just .203 with no home runs, 11 RBIs and a .560 OPS in 79 plate appearances. But the Mets are winning, sitting atop the NL East with a 25-14 mark entering Thursday, and Smith is in no position to rock the boat.
“I’ve never been that type of player,” said Smith, who nearly was traded to the Padres in spring training. “We have a great team, we’re in first place, great culture, great atmosphere, great group of guys. I’m having a blast. It’s super fun grinding with these guys every day.
“It’s really cool learning from Buck. He teaches us a ton. And the guys they brought in, Mark Canha, [Starling] Marte, [Eduardo] Escobar, those are huge improvements to our team. And at the end of the day, our pitching staff is what’s really carrying us, and that’s without Jake [Jacob deGrom]. It’s a super-fun team. I know Max [Scherzer] went out [Wednesday] night, but I feel like Buck has really instilled that next man up mentality.”
Still, that hasn’t made it easier for Smith to remain patient with his sporadic playing time.
“All of this stuff is really out of my control, all I can do is do what I did [Wednesday] and the day before, which is try to help the team win, put together good ABs and take advantage of my opportunities,” he said. “That’s all I can do. I can’t write the lineup. All I can do is show up and help the team win. If this is the role they want me in, that’s all I can do.”