Dodgers catcher Will Smith remains one of MLB’s most underrated stars, even in the best season of his career

Is the 2025 season of Los Angeles Dodgers All-Star Will Smith getting its due? It’s a fair question to ask since Smith, despite what seems to be a lack of attention, is in line for one of the greatest offensive catcher seasons ever. 

In some ways, it’s surprising that the stalwart catcher for the reigning World Series champions is being overlooked. On the other hand, he’s part of a roster that’s overstuffed with stars like Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, and enough aces — healthy or otherwise — to fill a rotation. As well, the slugging exploits of Seattle’s Cal Raleigh seem to be hogging whatever attention we set aside for the guild of catchers. Add it up, and Smith doesn’t even pop up on National League MVP odds tables for this season.

Shall we amend this grave injustice? We shall. To repeat the other premise of what you’re reading, yes, Smith’s work at the plate in 2025 puts him in rare company among catchers. At this writing, Smith in 89 games and 356 plate appearances has a slash line of .316/.416/.529 with 14 home runs and 50 unintentional walks. That’s special production for any player, let alone a catcher who’s on pace to top 1,000 defensive innings behind the plate this season. To put that in the proper context, the average MLB catcher this season has a line of .241/.309/.394. Smith’s line towers over that of his peers at large. 

Speaking of which, that .321 batting average leads the NL, which puts Smith in line to become just the fifth catcher ever to win a batting title (and first since Buster Posey of the Giants in 2012). That’s provided he maintains qualifier status, which is always a consideration for those who man such a physically demanding position. 

Impressive as that is, we’re all acquainted with the flaws of batting average at least insofar and providing a broad picture of offensive value is concerned. A better tool is OPS+. That’s a hitter’s OPS adjusted to reflect league and ballpark conditions. It’s calculated such that 100 is the league-average mark and any point above or below 100 equals one percentage point better or worse than that league mean. In Smith’s case, he presently boasts an OPS+ of 167, which means his park-adjusted OPS is a whopping 67 points better than the league-average mark. That’s just two points behind Raleigh among catchers, and only Ohtani with an OPS+ of 170 tops Smith among NL hitters.

Now for the historical context. Here are the highest qualifying OPS+ figures by primary catchers in the Integration Era (i.e., since 1947) in a full season: 

*Through Aug. 5, 2025 

As you can see, that’s enviable company for Smith (and Raleigh), and if he keeps it up and stays healthy he should be in the discussion for NL MVP honors. No, Smith is not an elite defender behind the plate, particularly in terms of pitch-framing. However, he controls the running game well, and the Dodgers — an organization that knows more about pitching development and execution than most — trust him to handle the (very) many pitchers they trot out in a given season. 

This, though, is really about the work Smith is doing at the plate this season. He’s no stranger to high-level production, of course. Coming into this, his age-30 season, Smith boasted a career OPS+ of 123, which is an excellent figure for, again, a hitter who dons the tools of ignorance in the field. In 2025, though, he’s reached new heights. 

That raises the matter of whether Smith will keep it up. The underlying indicators suggest he will. If you look at the all-encompassing offensive metric weighted on-base average, or wOBA (what’s this?), you’ll find that Smith has a sky-scraping figure of .410. As for Smith’s expected wOBA, or xwOBA (what’s this?), it’s .393, which puts him in the 95th percentile among big-league hitters this season. Yes, his xwOBA is a bit lower than his wOBA, but it’s barely so. xwOBA reflects a hitter’s “deserved” production at the batted-ball level, and Smith’s is way up there.

Speaking of which, Smith this season is hitting the ball harder than ever, flashing his best bat speed on record, doing the most damage on contact of his career, and showing his best plate discipline (in terms of both walks and laying off pitches outside the zone). That all adds up to not just strong production, but also sustainable strong production. Don’t be surprised if he keeps raking. 

We could go on — when it comes to the MVP discussion, we could talk about Smith’s outstanding clutch numbers at the plate this season and the importance of his performance to the Dodgers during what’s been a down year for Betts — but the point is made. Smith isn’t having “just” a great season at the plate. He’s having a historically great season at the plate as catchers go, and he frankly should be getting more credit for it.