Arizona
Arizona Diamondbacks 2024 Player Review: Pavin Smith
This article is part of a series chronicling the individual seasons of players who appeared for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2024.
Reviews for players who still have rookie eligibility for 2025 will appear in our prospect season reviews. Players are presented in the reverse order of their aWAR, an average of Baseball Reference and FanGraphs WAR.
2024 Contract Status: Pre-Arb, $509K Prorated from $740K League Minimum
Pavin Smith has come a long way since his original drafting by the Arizona Diamondbacks in the 1st round of the 2017 draft. He was picked 7th overall, and along with that came monumental expectations.
Smith hasn’t lived up to that bar by any means to this point in his career, but he’s certainly has an interesting path to get to where he was entering 2024. Then things seemed to take a turn, and where things stand today, he may have finally taken a step into the spotlight.
His status as a heavily bat oriented player, who finds himself playing corner outfield and first base exclusively, kept Smith in the minor leagues to start the season. His season debut came on April 19th in San Fransisco.
Going into the year the lefty batter had a career OPS+ of 91, clocking in at 9% below league average. Between that April 19th debut, however, until he was optioned down to Reno once more, Pavin Smith totaled a .268 batting average, with a solid .829 OPS.
These numbers were solid, but were not enough to force his way onto the roster. With a logjam in the outfield, and Christian Walker holding the fort at first base, Smith would primarily patrol the field in Reno until his ascent back to the big leagues on August 19th.
This callup seemed to change things in a big way for Smith. His approach at the plate always found him at bats, and this would be his key going forward.
“I’m where I’m supposed to be”
– Pavin Smith
Smith took off after his callup, seemingly making an impact every time he stepped into the batters box. His stats backed this tremendously.
In a 31 game sample size his On Base Percentage soared to .378, helped in large part to a fantastic 15.6% walk rate in that span. Smith’s slugging percentage also reached .595, with 12 of his 20 hits going for extra bases, and 6 of those leaving the yard.
Things were truly clicking in Pavin Smith’s bat and it was not a fluke. In 2024 He had a babip of .280, only .010 points higher than his .270 battings average leaving little projection of regression.
Smith’s season peaked with a magical three homer game in Houston, including a grand slam, announcing himself on the national stage, and proving himself deserving of his roster spot. His season finished with a 145 OPS+, up 55 points above his career mark to that point.
Pavin Smith’s future role with the Diamondbacks has become much more critical moving into the 2025 season. Christian Walker, and Josh Bell are Free Agents, with the former demanding a large price tag connected with a potential return.
Smith is eligible for salary arbitration for the first time. He is estimated to earn approximately $1.6 million in 2025 according our Diamondbacks payroll projections.
Smith can play first base, and its almost certain that he will see regular reps at the big league level next season. He has played himself into a job, and his performance in 2024 will have an impact in the teams dealings this off-season.
Smith is rated as a below average defender in total, but most of those negative numbers have come while playing the outfield. Playing first base, however, he is rated as exactly zero runs above average for his career (613 innings) by both Baseball Reference’s DRS and Statcast’s OAA.
Those defensive numbers don’t compare to Christian Walker’s incredible 10 Fielding Run Value and National League Leading 13 Outs Above Average.
Pavin Smith had an incredible 2024 season which proved that he has the talent at a major league level that the Diamondbacks dreamed upon 7 years ago when they drafted him. Now he will get a chance to back his breakout season up in a full years campaign in 2025.
Believe it or not, the 2026 All-Star Game voting process has already begun, as of Wednesday. Fans who want to see their favorite members of the Arizona Diamondbacks take the field in the midsummer classic this season can begin voting for their stars.
There are certainly some deserving players on this Diamondbacks club, which is currently 32-28 and occupying the third Wild Card sport in the National League.
Here’s how and where you can vote for your hometown heroes:
How to vote for Diamondbacks players to make All-Star Game
Fans can utilize the following link to vote for members of their team on dbacks.com. Fans are permitted to fill out and submit as many as five ballots per day, selecting as many or as few players as they choose.
This period of the fan vote constitutes Phase 1 of All-Star voting, which will run from Wednesday, June 3 through Thursday, June 25 at 9:00 a.m. Arizona time (12:00 p.m. Eastern time).
Following Phase 1, the two overall top vote-getters will receive automatic berths into the All-Star lineups. If those two are not Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge once again, that would be an upset.
When and where is the 2026 All-Star Game?
The 2026 All-Star Game will take place at Citizens Bank Park, home of the Phillies in Philadelphia. All-Star week begins on June 10, with a full slate of activities, before the game is played on Tuesday, July 14 at 8:00 p.m. Eastern time (5:00 p.m. Arizona time).
The full schedule of events are as follows:
- Friday, July 10: HBCU Swingman Classic
- Saturday, July 11: 2026 MLB Draft
- Sunday, July 12: All-Star Sunday, MLB Futures Game, MLBx All-Star 3-on-3
- Monday, July 13: T-Mobile Home Run Derby (8:00 p.m. ET)
- Tuesday, July 14: All-Star Red Carpet, All-Star Game
Which Diamondbacks are deserving All-Stars?
| Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
So, who should Diamondbacks fans vote for? Obviously, you may fill out the ballot however you choose. That can include a full roster of Diamondbacks, regardless of their stats or notoriety this season.
Still, here are some of the top performing D-backs who might have a leg up on an All-Star berth:
OF Corbin Carroll
Corbin Carroll is having another All-Star worthy season. He’s hitting .289/.380/.545 with a .925 OPS and eight home runs, while playing good right field defense. He has the eighth-most bWAR (2.7) among position players, fifth-most in the National League, and third-most among all pure outfielders.
2B Ketel Marte
If Marte wins the NL second base fan vote, it will be his third straight season starting the All-Star game. Despite such a slow start to the year, that feels possible again. Marte is hitting .259/.315/.456 with 10 homers and is playing the best defense of his career.
3B Nolan Arenado
Nolan Arenado is quietly putting together one of his better seasons of the 2020s, slashing .269/.351/.467 with eight homers and flashing his elite third base glove at nearly as good a pace as ever. His name still carries a lot of weight in third base conversations; he’ll get some votes, no matter what.
1B Ildemaro Vargas
Vargas’ bat has cooled down quite a bit since his historic start to 2026. He’s still hitting a sturdy .290/.318/.454, but feels more likely to be considered as a reserve selection than a leading vote-getter.
Honorable Mention: LHP Eduardo Rodriguez
Pitchers are not selected by the fan vote. They are selected by player ballots and the All-Star Game managers. The National League’s manager will be Dave Roberts of the Dodgers, again.
The National League has quite a few talented pitchers, but Eduardo Rodriguez currently holds the fifth-best starting pitcher ERA (2.24) among NL hurlers. It’s going to be difficult to dethrone Christopher Sanchez or Jacob Misiorowski, but Rodriguez could find his way into the pitching pool, especially after his WBC heroics for Team Venezuela.
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Arizona State has added Michael White to its coaching staff for the upcoming 2026-2027 season. White will join the program as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator.
“I am incredibly honored to return to my home state and join this elite program,” White said. “I’m proud to say that I am coming home. I can’t thank Coach Herbie enough for the opportunity to join his incredible staff and help these young athletes grow and develop into the best individuals they can be. There are so many friends and mentors who have left their mark on this program, and I’m excited for the opportunity to leave mine and help take this program to new heights. Go Devils!”
White arrives with the Sun Devils after most recently spending the last three seasons with Alabama as an assistant. The Alabama women finished 11th at the 2026 NCAA Championships while the men were 24th.
Prior to arriving at Alabama, White spent the 2022-2023 season as a volunteer assistant at Wisconsin. He primarily coached the freestyle, breaststroke and distance groups for the Badgers. In addition to coaching the Badgers, he also was an assistant senior coach with the Madison Aquatics Club for the year. He began his coaching career at Juniata College in Pennsylvania as a volunteer assistant from 2019-2021.
White spent his collegiate career at St. Bonaventure in New York. There he was a 7x individual Atlantic-10 champion and swam to three school records as a senior with a 1:47.30 200 IM, 3:52.18 400 IM, and a 1:47.70 200 fly. He also was team captain for two season and helped the team capture the 2014 A-10 team title.
The Scottsdale, Arizona native will return to his home state. He was a 2012 AIA Division I state champion in the 100 breast and 200 IM as a senior for Dobson High School.
White joins the coaching staff led by head coach Herbie Behm, who is already known to be an innovative coach. Behm spoke of White’s innovation as well saying, “Mike is one of the best young coaches in the NCAA. His interview blew me away with the innovative ideas he presented. I can’t wait to start implementing those ideas and continue our growth at ASU.”
Arizona State swept the 2026 Big 12 team titles, and the men went on to finish 4th at 2026 NCAAs while the women were 37th. Rising senior Ilya Kharun captured the NCAA title in the 200 fly with a 1:37.66.
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