The Yankees are signing veteran Dominic Smith to a minor league deal, according to multiple sources.
Smith, 29, spent last season with the Boston Red Sox and Cincinnati Reds organizations appearing in 93 big league games across the two clubs.
While he began his career seeing time in the outfield, Smith has made first base his home over the last few seasons. His last 231 starts have come there across the last three seasons and has performed decently at first. Smith was in the 76th percentile in outs above average in 2024 and 68th percentile in 2023.
The Yanks added veteran Paul Goldschmidt to play first base after letting Anthony Rizzo depart with the expiration of his two-year deal with the ballclub. In case of injury to the former Cardinal, Ben Rice is also capable of playing first, along with DJ LeMahieu, who could be the answer at third base, and Cody Bellinger, who will likely be used exclusively in the outfield.
Over 307 plate appearances last year, the one-time Met had 64 hits (.233 average) with 22 doubles and six home runs (.378 slugging) with 34 RBI. He struck out 76 times to just 28 walks and posted a .691 OPS (91 OPS+ and 93 wRC+).
Smith broke into the majors as a 22-year-old with the Mets in 2017 and appeared in 447 games across six seasons in Queens posting a .773 OPS. He had his best year during the pandemic-shortened year of 2020 when he had 10 homers and 42 RBI in 50 games with a .316 average and .993 OPS that saw him finish 13th in the voting for National League MVP.
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