Diamondbacks Select Pavin Smith

Pavin Smith is back in Arizona. The Diamondbacks designated the lefty batter for assignment and sent him outright to Triple-A Reno in July. Tonight, he will return to the roster and the starting lineup as the D-backs take on the Rangers (as first reported by Alex Weiner of Arizona Sports). Catcher/DH Adrian Del Castillo is heading down to Triple-A to make room for Smith on the active roster. To open a 40-man spot, Arizona recalled first baseman Tyler Locklear and placed him on the 60-day injured list. Locklear fractured his right thumb earlier this week.

Now 30, Smith has spent the last 10 seasons in the Diamondbacks organization. He was a first-round pick in 2017 and made his big league debut in 2020. Despite his draft pedigree and strong numbers in the minors, the outfielder/first baseman struggled to make an impact over his first several years with Arizona. From 2020-23, he hit .240 with a .698 OPS and 91 wRC+ in more than 1,000 trips to the plate. Even when he had the platoon advantage, his offensive output was mediocre at best.

In 2024, Smith turned some heads when he finished with an .896 OPS and 143 wRC+. The sample was small (only 60 games and 158 PA), and he took the vast majority of his reps against opposite-handed pitching. Still, there was reason to think the D-backs might have found themselves a real righty masher. Out of more than 200 NL hitters with at least 150 PA in 2024, Smith ranked third with a .396 expected wOBA. He was pulling more of his contact, especially his contact in the air. As a result, he was barreling the baseball twice as often. Combine quality contact like that with his already-strong plate discipline, and you’ve got the ingredients for an impact bat.

On the surface, Smith kept it up in 2025. Injuries held him out for most of the second half, but in the 87 games he played, he posted a .797 OPS and a 123 wRC+. However, his whiff rate soared, and his strikeout rate soared with it. He also benefited from an exceptionally high batting average on balls in play. Accordingly, his Statcast expected numbers looked a lot more like those he produced from 2020-23 than the ones he put up in his excellent 2024 campaign.

Things took a significant turn for the worse for Smith in 2026. A few games into the season, he suffered an elbow injury that kept him on the injured list until June. Then, he hit so poorly upon his return (.417 OPS, 19 wRC+ in 81 PA) that the Diamondbacks removed him from their 40-man roster just before the All-Star break.

The good news for Smith is that some time in the minors seemed to help him figure things out. He put up a .927 OPS and 125 wRC+ in 39 games for Triple-A Reno, including a 1.033 OPS and 148 wRC+ in his last 20 games. Those numbers are impressive even for the Pacific Coast League, which is well known as a hitter-friendly environment. Smith drew walks at a near-20% rate, which won’t be sustainable against major league pitching. However, he also got his strikeout rate down and hit for quite a bit of power, and those are both encouraging signs.

Smith will be a free agent at the end of the season. So, over the next few weeks, he’ll hope he can do enough to convince a team to give him a major league deal this winter. Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks will hope he can give their offense a boost against right-handed pitching. They’re currently half a game behind the Padres for the final NL Wild Card spot. Smith will likely see time at both first base and DH, two positions at which Arizona could desperately use more offense.