Recent SF Giants first baseman is quickly becoming an unlikely Braves folk hero

As if to rub salt in the wound of the terrible start to the season for the SF Giants, Dominic Smith has turned himself into something of a folk hero in less than a month with the Atlanta Braves. The Giants can't help but somewhat regret not bringing him back.

Smith continued his heroics in Atlanta as he hit a go-ahead three-run double in the eighth inning on Tuesday night to help the Braves defeat the Miami Marlins. This comes a few weeks after he hit a walk-off grand slam.

Now on the season, Smith is hitting .395/.415/.684 with three homers and 15 runs batted in. He looks like an even better version of the guy Giants fans saw last season who slashed .284/.333/.417 and played superb defense at first base in 63 games with San Francisco.

Dom Smith is the exact sort of player the Giants could use right now

For a Giants team that is struggling to score runs and does not have anyone trustworthy defensively to play first base, Smith would be an absolute godsend.

The Giants expressed interest in bringing him back at the start of the offseason but after signing Luis Arraez, that seemed to shut the door on any sort of reunion. Still, Smith ended up signing just a minor league deal with Atlanta despite his solid 2025 so the Giants could have signed him as an insurance option in case, oh, I don't know, their first baseman hurt his hamstring in spring training and they needed someone to fill in. But stuff like that never happens.

It's easy to Wednesday afternoon general manage, but Smith is just one of those solid ballplayers who can help a team in myriad ways. He certainly would have made more sense on the Giants than Jerar Encarnacion who has not done much of anything so far.

It is a great irony that had the Giants signed Smith and held on to outfielder Joey Wiemer, who is currently slashing .364/.462/.606 with two home runs for the Washington Nationals, and they both put up the same numbers they've posted with their respective teams so far, they might be close to .500 on the season rather than 6-11.

The two offensive additions they did make, Luis Arraez and Harrison Bader, figure to put up better numbers over the course of a full season, but the front office could end up with egg on its face if that's not how things shake out.

Giants fans have to be happy for Smith, though. He seems like a great guy and was a really good Giant in 2025. It's easy to root for him no matter what team he's on, but it would be a heck of a lot easier if he was doing what he's doing at the plate in a Giants uniform.

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