Will Smith Fantasy Baseball 2025: Great Catcher Value At Current ADP
Fantasy baseball mock drafts are in full swing, and I couldn’t be happier! As I mentioned last week, you may not like the fantasy baseball catcher position, but I’ll help you iron out your strategy to maximize production from this position.
To help with your 2025 fantasy baseball prep, I’ll be here every Thursday over the next couple of weeks breaking down the position, giving you the blueprint to navigating these waters. Last week, we talked about late-round targets at the position, but this week, we’re going to take a look at a particular catcher in Los Angeles who is one of the best fantasy baseball values at catcher on the board!
He’s universally too low in many 2025 fantasy baseball catcher rankings, and when looking at fantasy baseball projections for 2025, you’ll see some pretty noteworthy numbers from Will Smith, the catcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Will Smith Fantasy 2025
Will Smith may not be one of the flashiest names behind the dish, as he is a solid contributor in multiple categories, but not elite in any single one. However, that still has a home behind the dish for fantasy baseball, and his price point seems quite low if you ask me.
In terms of NFBC fantasy baseball ADP over the last couple of seasons, Smith was, by ADP, one of the first three catchers off the board in drafts the past four seasons, and despite hitting 20 or more home runs for the third time in four seasons, and notching 75 RBI for the fourth straight season, he’s now dropped to the 7th catcher off the board, going 20-25 picks behind the likes of Willson Contreras and Cal Raleigh!
If you don’t get one of the premier options behind the plate for your fantasy baseball team, Smith is a great target at his current ADP as the seventh catcher off the board at pick 92.5.
Will Smith Stats (2024)
The Los Angeles backstop had a blazing start to the year, hitting nine home runs across his first 50 games, and hitting 15 long balls with a .272 average, .838 OPS, and .219 ISO in the first half of the season.
Then, a late season slide, led by an elevated strikeout rate and reduction in hard contact, knocked some of the shine off the better two-thirds of his season. Take a look at the chart below, and you’ll see in the later part of 2024, his O-Swing% rate, swinging strike rate, wOBA, and hard-hit rate all trended in the wrong direction.
His 19.3 percent strikeout rate was his highest since 2021, and his 9.4 percent walk rate was his lowest since 2019, so while those numbers aren’t ideal, those numbers are far from worrisome! However, I will note that his strikeout rate could push into the low twenties this season if he can’t buck his recent trend of leaving the zone more and making less contact.
| O-Swing% | Contact% | SwStr% | |
| 2022 | 20.4% | 83.0% | 7.2% |
| 2023 | 23.9% | 82.8% | 7.8% |
| 2024 | 26.5% | 81.7% | 8.4% |
Over the last four years, there have been eight individual seasons from a catcher where they hit at least 20 home runs with 70 runs scored and 75 RBI. Smith and Cal Raleigh are the only individuals to do it twice, and in 2024, William Contreras and Smith were the only two to do so while also hitting at least .245!
Why the “hate” on Will Smith in 2025? Is his higher-floor archetype boring/unsexy? Is the fact that he’s a catcher that won’t hit .210 too foreign to comprehend?
Fantasy Baseball Projections 2025: Will Smith
Let’s take a look at our 2025 fantasy baseball projections here at FantasyAlarm, and here are the catchers projected to hit the aforementioned 20+ HR/70+ R/75+ RBI threshold:
| PLAYER | HR | R | RBI | AVG | NFBC ADP* |
| William Contreras | 23 | 97 | 88 | .300 | 22.94 |
| Yainer Diaz | 27 | 78 | 75 | .273 | 53.19 |
| Adley Rutschman | 21 | 96 | 81 | .274 | 60.03 |
| Salvador Perez | 28 | 70 | 83 | .254 | 65.36 |
| Willson Contreras | 22 | 82 | 79 | .259 | 68.68 |
| Cal Raleigh | 26 | 79 | 90 | .231 | 76.54 |
| Will Smith | 25 | 76 | 76 | .260 | 92.59 |
| Danny Jansen | 21 | 72 | 79 | .247 | 329.25 |
*ADP data courtesy of NFBC from 2/7/25 to 3/6/25
If we keep the above parameters and add in the requirement of hitting at least .260, the list narrows down to just four catchers, which are the first three off the board, and then Smith a whole 30+ picks later!
Despite a “down” year in 2024, Smith still performed like a top five catcher, so his ADP falling outside of that this year makes him a screaming value. Again, Smith isn’t particularly great or elite in any one fantasy category, but at the catcher position, he’ll give you plus production in four of five categories, and in case you forgot, he’ll hit in arguably MLB’s best lineup in one of the best parks for right-handed power.
I think Will Smith’s ADP is a bit too low, and his year-over-year consistency shouldn’t be overlooked by fantasy managers.
Player News
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