Boston Red Sox fans in 2024 fell in love with former New York Mets top prospect Dominic Smith when he arrived to play first base in injured Triston Casas' stead. Smith batted .237/.317/.390 with 20 doubles, six home runs and 34 RBI in 84 games. Just one season prior, it took him 153 games to hit 21 doubles.
After signing with the New York Yankees and San Francisco Giants following his leave from Boston, Smith landed with the MLB-best Atlanta Braves for the 2026 campaign. He's off to an excellent start so far this year with a .324/.347/.514 slash line with four doubles, a triple, five homers and 24 RBI in 43 games.
Smith on May 27 appeared on the "Foul Territory" podcast to discuss the spike in his offensive success. His answers will surprise Red Sox fans, who are largely deeply disillusioned by the team's poor offensive results this year.
"A few years ago when I played here in Boston, actually, I got with Pete [Fatse], the hitting coach, and he really just kinda broke down my swig a lot, and a lot of it was just going back to the basics, going back to stuff I did in high school," Smith said. "He just asked me why I'd stopped doing this and I kinda laughed and said, 'well, a lot of coaches said this wouldn't work.' And he said 'come on, this will definitely work'... from there on, it just really clicked."
Braves' Dominic Smith credits former Red Sox hitting coach Pete Fatse for helping him find his swing again
Dom Smith said he was approached by Peter Fatse about retooling parts of his swing back to his high school days.
— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) May 27, 2026
"A lot of coaches said this wouldn't work, and he said this is how YOU swing, how YOU create power, and this is how YOU are." pic.twitter.com/jbcWi3Vv3S
Fatse was fired on April 25 alongside Alex Cora and five other coaches on the former skipper's staff. For years before the mass firing, Red Sox coaches had been accused of making development and coaching decisions based on analytics and not what they see with their own eyes. Smith's statement refutes that narrative.
A few days after the coaching dismissals, Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic reported that Alex Bregman advocated for Boston's now-fired coaches, as Craig Breslow considered firing them a year ago (subscription required). Bregman credited Fatse and the rest of the Sox's hitting coaching staff for helping him find his All-Star form at the plate again.
Not much has changed for the better since the Red Sox shocked baseball by chucking all their coaches out one month into the season. Before Boston's massive eight-run showing against the Braves on May 27, it had the worst batting average, the fifth-fewest hits and the third-fewest walks with runners in scoring position in the month since Cora and his staff were fired.
This isn't a defense of Fatse or the rest of the Sox's hitting coaching staff, — something had to change to get the season going in Boston, although that still hasn't happened yet — but it's interesting to see Smith's success using Fatse's advice. Smith's podcast appearance is yet more evidence that the coaching staff wasn't the only thing going wrong with the Red Sox's offense.
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