Fans who attended (or listened to) last Friday night’s Advanced Single-A game between the Dodgers affiliate Rancho Cucamonga Quakes and the Angels affiliate Inland Empire 66ers not only got to witness (or hear) an extremely exciting and well-played game, they also got a glimpse at who the Dodgers’ future catcher might be.

Although the first place Quakes are currently carrying two catchers in 24-year-old Garrett Kennedy and 22-year-old Will Smith, Quakes manager Drew Saylor has the luxury – and it is indeed that – to play Smith at third base, second base or even in the outfield when Kennedy is behind the plate if, for no other reason, to keep Smith’s red hot bat in his daily lineup – and it paid huge dividends for both Smith and the 33-year-old Quakes skipper. On Monday, Smith was named the California League Player of the Week. That said, and with absolutely no disrespect whatsoever intended towards Kennedy, Smith is at his very best when he is wearing the Tools of ignorance, as Herold “Muddy” Ruel famously dubbed catching equipment nearly a century ago.

As most Dodger fans know, Smith was selected by the Dodgers in the first round of the 2016 MLB First-Year Player Draft out of the University of Louisville as a compensatory pick for losing Zack Greinke to the Arizona Diamondbacks. As most Dodger fans also know, the 6′-0″ / 192-pound Smith also shot his way through the low minors very quickly, playing only seven games with the Pioneer Rookie League Ogden Raptors, 23 games with the Low Single-A Great Lakes Loons and 25 games last season with the Quakes. He has also played in all but three of the Quakes 18 games thus far this season, 11 as catcher, two at third base and two at second base.

“Have you seen him play third base?” Quakes play-by-play man Mike Lindskog said, more as a statement than a question. “He has great range both left and right, and made several plays that had me like ‘Wow! He reminds me of Craig Biggio.”

In addition to two throwing out two would-be base stealers last Friday night, Smith hit two home runs on Sunday afternoon to help him earn Cal League Player of the Week honors.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

But it wasn’t Lindskog’s endorsement of Smith that stole the show after Smith’s 1-for-4 / two-caught-stealing night last Friday. No, that endorsement came from former MLB catcher and manager Pat Corrales, who currently serves as a special assistant to Dodgers general manager Farhan Zaidi, and who just so happened to be in attendance at LoanMart Field on Friday to witness the Quakes 5-4 win over the 66ers – a win that Corrales said Smith was responsible for.

“The boys played great tonight, especially their catcher,” Corrales said after the game. “They won the game because of him.”

Although it is both unreasonable and unfair to judge Smith’s overall performance based solely on 15 games, it is impossible to ignore his current slash-line of .333 / .435 / .608 for a team-high 1.043 OPS from among Quakes players who have played in 15 or more games this season. But what really jumps out at you are the seven opposing runners that Smith has thrown out while attempting to steal off of him, this in contrast to the two that Kennedy has caught stealing in his seven games behind the plate.

“I knew the situation to try to get a runner in scoring position, but I made a good throw and [Quakes shortstop Drew Jackson] made a good play out there to get the guy out,” Smith told Quakes assistant broadcaster Sammy O’Brien about his second-inning caught stealing of 66ers third baseman Jose Rojas on Friday night.

In his two games at the hot corner thus far this season Smith has not made an error in one chance for a 1.000 fielding percentage and in his two games at second base he has made but one error in eight chances for an .875 FPCT.

One has to believe that if Pat Corrales – who has the dubious distinction of being the back-up catcher to Hall of Famer Johnny Bench – was willing to share his opinion of Will Smith with me, there’s a pretty good chance that he is going to share it with others. After all, he is a special assistant to Dodgers general manager Farhan Zaidi … if you get my drift.