Will Smith

William Dills Smith (born March 28, 1995) is an American professional baseball catcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played college baseball for the Louisville Cardinals. He was selected by the Dodgers in the first round of the 2016 Major League Baseball draft, and made his MLB debut in 2019. Smith is a three-time All-Star and won the World Series with the Dodgers in 2020, 2024, and 2025, securing the latter championship with an 11th-inning home run in Game 7. Internationally, Smith represents the United States.

Amateur career Smith attended Kentucky Country Day School in Louisville, Kentucky. In 2013, as a senior, he hit .528 with 11 home runs and 36 RBIs along with pitching to a 7–1 record 0.87 ERA. He went undrafted in the 2013 MLB draft and enrolled at the University of Louisville where he played college baseball. In 2014, he played collegiate summer baseball for the Newport Gulls of New England Collegiate Baseball League where they won the league championship. In 2015, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Brewster Whitecaps of the Cape Cod Baseball League. In 2016, his junior season, he slashed .382/.480/.567 with seven home runs and 43 RBIs in 55 games. After his junior year, he was selected by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the first round of the 2016 Major League Baseball draft. Smith signed on July 17, 2016, for a $1.775 million signing bonus.

Professional career Minor leagues

Smith began his professional career with the Ogden Raptors of the Pioneer Baseball League and was then quickly promoted to the Single-A Great Lakes Loons of the Midwest League. He played in seven games for Ogden, 23 for Great Lakes and 25 for the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes of the California League, hitting a combined .246. He was named to the California League mid-season all-star team in 2017. He hit .232 in 72 games for the Quakes with 11 homers and 43 RBI. He split 2018 between Tulsa and the Triple–A Oklahoma City Dodgers of the Pacific Coast League, hitting .233 with 20 home runs and 59 RBI. but was promoted to the majors for the first time on May 27, 2019. He made his major league debut the following day against the New York Mets and had two hits in four at-bats as the starting catcher. His first major league hit was a single off Steven Matz in the second inning. Smith's first MLB home run was a walk off against Héctor Neris of the Philadelphia Phillies on June 1. On June 23, Smith hit a walk-off three-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning against the Colorado Rockies. It was the third straight game the Dodgers won on a walk-off home run by a rookie, an MLB record. He returned to the minors for a month and was selected to the Pacific Coast League team at the Triple-A All-Star Game. In 62 total games for Oklahoma City in 2019 he hit .268 with 20 homers and 54 RBI. and the following day hit a homer and two doubles against the Washington Nationals as well as driving in six runs, the most RBI by a Dodger rookie since James Loney in 2006. With 26 RBI and nine homers in his first 23 games, he passed Cody Bellinger for the most in franchise history through that many contests. He finished the 2019 campaign hitting .253/.337/.571 in 54 games with 15 homers and 42 RBI. Smith had only one hit in 13 at-bats against the Nationals in the 2019 National League Division Series (NLDS). On October 16, during Game 5 of the National League Championship Series (NLCS) Smith became the first MLB player to face a pitcher of the same name in the postseason, Atlanta Braves pitcher Will Smith. The faceoff ended with Smith hitting a three-run home run. In the 2020 World Series against the Tampa Bay Rays, Smith had four hits in 24 at-bats, including a home run in Game 2. He also committed a fielding error that led to the Dodgers losing Game 4. However, they won the series in six games.

2021 In his first full season and third overall of his career, Smith played in 130 games for the Dodgers and hit .258/.365/.495 with new career highs of 25 home runs and 76 RBIs. Of his 130 games played, Smith played third base and first base for one game each as well as serving as a pinch runner or designated hitter for 16 games while playing catcher for the remaining 117 games. He led major league catchers in stolen bases allowed. He also led the National League with 11 sacrifice flies. He was selected to his first All-Star game in 2023. On the season, he played in 126 games, batting .261 with 19 homers and 76 RBI. Then, on March 27, he signed a 10-year, $140 million contract extension with the Dodgers. He hit his 100th career home run for the Dodgers against the Mets on May 30, becoming the fourth catcher in franchise history to hit 100 home runs alongside Roy Campanella (242), Mike Piazza (177), and Steve Yeager (100). The following day, he homered in his first at-bat of the game, tying him for the major league record of four home runs in four at-bats, the first Dodger player to do so since Adrián González in 2015. He also became the third catcher in history to accomplish that, joining Johnny Bench (1973) and Benito Santiago (1996). He was selected to the 2024 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, his second such selection. Smith played in 128 games for the Dodgers in 2024, with a career low .248 batting average and with 20 home runs and 75 RBI. Will Smith caught the game where Clayton Kershaw recorded his 3,000 strikeout. On August 31, 2025, during the bottom of the ninth inning, Smith hit a pinch-hit walk-off home run off the Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher John Curtiss. This would become Smith's fourth career walk-off home run, making him hold the second-most pinch-hit home runs in MLB history behind first baseman and designated hitter Jason Giambi with six career walk-off home runs. On September 3, he was hit in the hand by a ball fouled off by Nick Gonzales of the Pittsburgh Pirates and left the game with what was listed as a right hand contusion. Initially they kept him on the roster, and he got into one more game on September 9, but he continued to have pain in his hand and was placed on the injured list on September 11. On September 20, the Dodgers announced that he had a hairline fracture in his hand and would miss the rest of the regular season. He finished the season with a career high .296 batting average, 17 home runs, and 61 RBI in 110 games. Smith returned to the starting lineup in game 3 He had two hits in 13 at-bats in the series. His run scoring double in Game 6 started the scoring in another game the Dodgers won and in Game 7, Smith hit the eventual game-winning home run in the top of the 11th inning off of Blue Jays pitcher Shane Bieber.

2026 On June 11, 2026, Smith was placed on the injured list due to neck inflammation. He was transferred to the 60-day injured list on July 21.

International career On August 29, 2022, Smith announced that he would represent the United States in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, joining fellow Dodger Mookie Betts. He played in three games in the tournament, earning two hits in ten at-bats. He hit a solo home run off of JoJo Romero in a pool stage game against Team Mexico.

Personal life William Dills Smith was born on March 28, 1995, in Louisville, Kentucky. His parents are Mark and Julie Smith, and he has a younger sister, Sara. He grew up a Red Sox fan, and his favorite players were Jason Varitek, Kevin Youkilis, and David Ortiz.

Smith married Cara Martinell in December 2020 and their first child, a daughter, was born in October 2022.

Smith is nicknamed "The Fresh Prince" after the television show The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, starring the identically named actor Will Smith. He often requires disambiguation from the pitcher Will Smith.

In 2021, Smith and his wife Cara Smith co-founded the Catching Hope Foundation, a nonprofit organization launched out of their shared roots in Kentucky and aimed at supporting youth communities and education initiatives.