The Diamondbacks pulled the plug on the Pavin Smith era Thursday night, designating the veteran first baseman for assignment right after a 3-1 win over the Padres. It's not a shocking move if you've watched Smith's season — it's just a sad one for a guy who was once the 7th overall pick.
Smith was drafted by Arizona in 2017, one of those college bats with a clean left-handed swing that was supposed to anchor the middle of the order for years. It never really happened. He topped out with 11 homers and 27 doubles back in his rookie year of 2021 and never got past that ceiling. This season was worse than most — Smith opened the year nursing left elbow pain, needed surgery to clean out loose bodies, missed about 2 months, and came back hitting .141/.236/.192 with 1 homer and 6 RBI over 89 plate appearances. An 18-to-10 strikeout-to-walk ratio in that small sample tells you everything about how lost he looked at the plate.
The corresponding move says as much about where the D-backs are headed as the DFA does. Arizona recalled Ryan Waldschmidt, its top prospect, from Triple-A Reno to take the open roster spot.
This is Waldschmidt's second look at the majors this season after getting optioned back down in mid-June, and by all accounts he's been raking against Triple-A arms since. For a Diamondbacks team still scrapping in a crowded NL West/Wild Card picture, that's the kind of fresh blood you want in the lineup over a struggling veteran on an expiring runway.
It's a quiet transaction on paper — a DFA and a call-up — but it closes the book on a former top-10 pick who never turned potential into production, and it hands the keys to a prospect Arizona clearly believes can do more with the opportunity. Worth watching whether Waldschmidt sticks this time, because the D-backs don't seem inclined to keep waiting around for reclamation projects at first base.