Prior to the New York Mets winning Sunday’s Little League Classic, a familiar face joined them in the clubhouse in first baseman/outfielder Dominic Smith. It may not be fair to call this a make-or-break opportunity for a 23-year-old with fewer than 300 big-league plate appearances under his belt, but that’s sure what this feels like.

The Mets are well under .500 and very far from the National League playoff picture. The following month and a half should be all about evaluating the young talent they have in order to make more informed decisions this winter and beyond — you know, since the plan is technically to contend in 2019 and all.

New York is doing that to a degree with Amed Rosario by giving him some time in the leadoff spot. They’re also doing it with Jeff McNeil, who has played quite well with consistent playing time thrown his way. Outside of doing the same for a few bullpen arms, this trend hasn’t extended to other parts of the roster just yet (*cough* Peter Alonso *cough*).

Recalling Smith now instead of waiting until September is the right move. It gives him as much of an opportunity as possible to show what he’s capable of contributing. But even if this latest audition goes really well, will it be enough?

It’s Definitely Been a Weird Year

Here’s a quick clip of Smith talking about 2018, with an interesting additional quote from the young ballplayer, via MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo.

Things have been weird for Smith since the moment New York signed Adrian Gonzalez as a free agent. One could imagine this move motivated him throughout the winter, but things started to spiral just about immediately upon arriving in Port St. Lucie.

From being late for the Grapefruit League opener to getting hurt, receiving a ticket back to Triple-A shouldn’t have been a surprise. While he’s mostly struggled in Las Vegas this season (.255/.330/.387 line, 90 wRC+ in 348 plate appearances), there’s reason for his likely overall frustration.

This is not at all a fair comparison, but let’s use it because Ronald Acuna, Jr. was cited in the above tweet. He should’ve made the Atlanta Braves’ Opening Day roster, but was instead sent down to Triple-A to start 2018. In 101 plate appearances before getting called up, he slashed .211/.297/.267 (63 wRC+) after posting a .344/.393/.548 line (162 wRC+) through 243 plate appearances the year before.

Do slumps happen? Sure, but do ballplayers also get bored and potentially lose focus when they feel as though they’ve done all that can be done at one particular spot and want to prove themselves at the next level? You betcha.

Nobody knows what’s really gone through Smith’s mind over the past few months, but it has to be frustrating to watch the Mets free fall out of contention and letting someone like Rosario learn on the job while he’s not getting the same opportunity.

A Glimmer of Hope?

Although the sample sizes are very different, Smith’s first tour in the big leagues this season contains a whole lot of negatives upon looking at the numbers. It’s hard to find many positives in the .183/.216/.324 triple slash, 45 wRC+, 1.4% walk rate, and 35.1% strikeout rate he produced before ripping a double as a pinch-hitter Sunday night.

We can try, though.

The plate-discipline stats have regressed, but there’s at least been some improvement in Smith’s batted-ball profile. While he maintained his hard-hit rate (37.0% in ’17, 37.8% in ’18), the biggest difference has been a dramatic increase in line-drive rate (16.0% to 26.7%) and an equally-dramatic decrease in ground-ball rate (50.4% to 35.6%).

Unfortunately, he hasn’t reaped the benefits of these changes yet. Prior to that pinch-hit double, he posted a 610 wRC+ on liners, but those warm and fuzzies were negated by a -61 wRC+ on fly balls (222 in ’17), and -73 wRC+ on ground balls (-15 in ’17).

But hey, maybe he just needs to play for things to start normalizing a bit? As we’ve seen a number of times, there’s no substitute for playing every day in the big leagues when it comes to evaluating a player’s talent and ability to adjust.

The Elephant in the Room

As mentioned at the top, it’d be unfair to draw any true conclusions from Smith’s brief MLB tenure at this time. Given the situation, though, this third chance may be his last opportunity to showcase himself to the franchise that spent a first-round pick on him.

Alonso isn’t on the 40-man roster and may have a hard time getting promoted before the regular season ends (which is ridiculous in its own right), but his huge 2018 season has forced the issue for Smith. I mean, it’s been forced so much that he’s even logging time in the outfield.

Even if it was there before, Smith definitely doesn’t have the luxury of time with regard to his development — he needs to show the Mets something right now or else he could be the odd man out. Heck, he could very well still be the odd man out despite playing well based off how this roster is constructed moving forward. Either way, that means playing on a daily basis is an absolute must. If Smith is going to play some outfield, Jose Bautista or Austin Jackson can ride some pine to allow it. If he’s going to play some first base, the same can be said about Wilmer Flores.

For the most part, we know what those guys are capable of when given regular playing time. Nobody knows what Smith can do because he hasn’t been given enough time to figure things out. That’s not to say he’ll totally clear things up over the next 39 games, but playing as much as possible will give him the best chance.

In an ideal world, both Smith and Alonso would be up in the big leagues right now. But if Alonso not getting promoted — despite it not making much sense — is happening to give Smith one final audition, then so be it.

He deserves another shot to prove whether he should be included in the conversation about the league’s top young talent, like Acuna, Gleyber Torres, and Ozzie Albies. Let’s just hope he gets a real chance, because all Smith has control over is his on-field performance.