WASHINGTON – He has an engaging personality, a terrific smile, an abundance of fast-twitch muscles and enough confidence to fall into the “swagger” category in the view of many.
There’s a whole lot for Braves fans to like about Mallex Smith, a dynamic center-field prospect called up from Triple-A Gwinnett ahead of schedule when the big club needed a replacement, after center fielder Ender Inciarte strained a hamstring Friday and went on the 15-day disabled list Sunday.
Smith joined the Braves in Washington and was in the lineup, in center field and batting leadoff, for Monday night’s series opener against the Nationals and ace Max Scherzer.
A reporter asked Smith if it felt a bit surreal.
“Surreal maybe is not the word I’m looking for,” Smith said, smiling. “Humbling, exciting. Just glad, very passionate about this. For me to be here right now is an honor, and I’m just trying to make the most of the opportunity.”
And when Inciarte returns in a couple of weeks?
“It’s out of my control,” said Smith, 23. “I don’t know what’s going to happen and I never wish ill on anybody. So at the end of the day it’s just moreso taking care of my everyday business, so that when I do get the call, I’m ready.”
Smith said his parents arrived in Washington on Monday afternoon for the game, and his brother and sisters were en route.
For the record, manager Fredi Gonzalez said Monday that the Braves hoped to have Smith play at least 70 games in the minor leagues this season, so the former high school football star could keep polishing his baseball skills and be ready to stay for good once he arrived. But now that he’s up, Gonzalez didn’t hesitate to put Smith into the lineup.
“The plan was to bring him up a little later, let him get some more at-bats in the minor leagues and get him game-ready,” Gonzalez said. “But you know what? Sometimes, at times like this with Inciarte going down, you bring him up and let him play. For me, you don’t bring up one of your top prospects in the minor leagues and put him on the bench. Let him play, and hopefully Inciarte gets ready in two weeks and (Smith) is doing well and see what happens.
“I think he can bring some excitement to the lineup. I mean, he could miss-hit two balls today and get two hits out of it, because he runs that well.”
A former Padres prospect who came to Atlanta in the December 2014 trade for Justin Upton, Smith led all of minor league baseball with 88 stolen bases (in 114 attempts) in 2014 in Single-A. Last year in his first season in the Braves organization, he hit .303 with a .371 OBP, eight triples and 56 steals in a 125 games in Double-A and Triple-A.
Smith impressed plenty this year at spring training, batting .346 (9-for-26) with seven extra-base hits (three triples) in 15 games before being sent to minor league camp.
He was 6-for-15 with two doubles, a triple and five runs scored in three games for Gwinnett — including a four-hit game Saturday — before being removed from the lineup before Sunday’s game and told afterward that he was headed to join the big-league club in Washington.
“This guy hasn’t played much baseball” compared with others his age, Gonzalez said. “The more he plays the game, the more we’re going to see him get better. The only way you can do it is by playing games, getting in there, getting experience, getting at-bats, getting in situations. And we were hoping to let him play 70, 80, 90 games in the minor leagues before bringing him up. But he played all year last year in Double-A and the second half in Triple-A, and he did well. Been to big-league camp a couple of times.
“Sometimes we have a tendency to protect these guys a little bit. Sometimes the best thing is just to say, hey, the plan was for him to come up a little later, but now Inciarte’s hurt, go get ’em.”
That’s what Gonzalez told Smith on Monday, greeting him briefly after the player arrived at Nationals Park, then letting him know that early batting practice was starting in 20 minutes and that he was in the lineup batting leadoff against Scherzer.
Gonzalez had spent plenty of time talking with his coaches and with team officials this weekend about Smith and how to use him if he came up.
“We were talking about, hey, if after two weeks he comes up here and fails, is it going to set him back?” Gonzalez said. “What do we do? And you know what, we’ve got a lot of good baseball people in that room, and we talked it over with our player development people and our big-league staff, and we said, you know what, sometimes we mother-hen these guys. He’s a position player, not a pitcher. Let him go out and play. He’s a good athlete, he’s a good baseball player, let him go out and play and see what happens.
“The (mental) makeup is off the chart, confidence is off the chart. It’s not like he’s going to go 0-for-4 today against Scherzer and go back to the room and curl up in the closet and cry or anything like that. He’s going to come back out tomorrow and play the game the right way.”
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