2025 might be Pavin's time to shine

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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- This could be the year it all comes together for Pavin Smith. When opportunity finally matches up with readiness for the D-backs' first baseman/outfielder.

Selected with the seventh overall pick in the 2017 Draft, Smith has bounced between Triple-A Reno and the big leagues since making his debut during the pandemic-shortened '20 season.

Things have never quite synched up for Smith. In 2021 when he got extended playing time for a 110-loss team, he was still trying to get his feet under him in the Majors. Despite bouncing between the outfield and first base, including being used in center field, Smith managed to post an OPS+ of 98.

In 2022 and '23, there were fewer opportunities for playing time. When they did come, Smith struggled. He hit .220 in '22 and .188 in '23.

“We’ve never really given him a long runway,” D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said last year.

Last year, Smith was one of the final cuts of Spring Training. After playing in the World Series in 2023, he spent Opening Day in Reno as the Diamondbacks received their rings at Chase Field.

Once again, Smith rode the shuttle between Reno and Phoenix. But something clicked for him this time while in Triple-A, and when he returned to the D-backs on Aug. 19, he had a new routine and level of confidence.

“A lot of times coming from college, you haven't really failed a whole lot,” Smith said. “So learning how to fail and learning how to get out of those failures, and kind of either change for the better or stick to things. It's definitely a learning process, a learning curve, to learn to do that, because this level is just definitely above and beyond, harder than any other level.”

Last season, Smith found a routine that worked for him both before and during games, and he found checkpoints at the plate.

Whereas in the past, Smith would have a bad game or two and find himself in the video room trying to make a bunch of changes, last year he learned to trust his process. And from Aug. 19 until the end of the season, Smith slashed .270/.378/.595.

This offseason, Joc Pederson, who got all the DH at-bats last year against right-handers, departed the D-backs via free agency. While Randal Grichuk, the right-handed part of that platoon, re-signed with Arizona, the D-backs didn’t add a left-handed bat to fill Pederson’s spot.

Between the DH spot and playing some first base or outfield, there is a big opportunity for Smith this year to finally establish himself.

Lovullo has long been a backer of Smith. Just about any time Smith’s name has come up with Lovullo, he has said “Pavin can hit” so often that it has become one of his catchphrases. As for what he wants to see from Smith this spring, Lovullo managed to work that phrase in.

“Offensively, to continue to control the zone,” Lovullo said. “Pavin can hit. I will stand here and tell you that every single time. So we don't want him to do anything differently. Just continue to control the zone and have an all-field approach and take what the at-bat is giving him.”

Smith might be penciled in as the left-handed DH, but he has been around long enough now to not take anything for granted.

“I think that's a great thing, it gives me peace of mind a little bit,” Smith said. “But at the same time, I’m going to have the same sense of urgency either way to make the most of an opportunity ... you know, just like, try to make the most of an opportunity. I just want to build off last year and how I finished the year and just not try to change a whole bunch of things. Kind of come in, take it day by day, have fun with the guys and let the opportunities come.”