Dominic Smith's brilliant start to the 2026 season coincided with a lot of wins for the Atlanta Braves. Unfortunately, as Smith has begun to struggle, so have the Braves. Since June 1, Smith has a .176/.244/.250 slash line, and 36 wRC+, a steep decline from the man who came up clutch frequently during the season's first couple of months.
After Smith failed to produce with the game on the line on Sunday, chatter surrounding his status erupted in the Braves' community. Smith was never expected to be the majority DH before the season, but after his recent skid, upgrading the position feels like a requirement for Alex Anthopoulos at the trade deadline. The question is, how does Anthopoulos tackle this dilemma?
The Dom Smith revival has fallen off a cliff. Since having a surprisingly good .861 OPS through May 21, he's now hitting .191 with a .499 OPS since then. The underlying metrics aren't good either: a 28.9% hard-hit rate and 85.3 mph average exit velo in his past 106 PAs.
— Jason Foster (@ByJasonFoster) July 5, 2026
Braves clearly need to upgrade from Dom Smith at DH, but the job will not be easy
Anthopoulos has numerous upcoming decisions to make with the roster with the impending returns of Ronald Acuna Jr. and Sean Murphy. Once the Braves get healthier, the Dominic Smith-DH problem becomes less of an issue. However, it does not mean it should remain unaddressed.
The good news for Anthopoulos is that outfield/DH types are usually in stock at the trade deadline. However, how far he clears the Smith bar remains to be seen. Those who dream big will make a call for Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez. Sadly, that dream is probably nothing more than a fantasy.
Instead, one should anticipate an approach of throwing multiple darts at the same problem from Anthopoulos. Much like the famous 2021 outfield reconstruction, it would not be a surprise to see Anthopoulos take more than one swing at solving the DH problem this trade deadline.
Which players qualify as swings is at the discretion of both Anthopoulos and Braves fans. Names like Josh Bell, Joc Pederson, and Mickey Moniak may not be headliners at the deadline, but they are exactly the type of players Anthopoulos likes to target.
Additionally, Anthopoulos always finds a way to sneak in an acquisition that was seemingly on no one's radar. The Braves indeed have other (arguably more pressing) needs on the roster currently. Still, no matter which direction Anthopoulos goes, Smith's decline makes it clear an upgrade at DH is a must.
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