Dodgers, Will Smith are finalizing a record 10-year, $140M extension

The Los Angeles Dodgers and Will Smith agreed to a $140 million, 10-year contract Wednesday, keeping the 28-year-old catcher with the organization for the foreseeable future. It also raises the team’s spending to nearly $1.4 billion for five key players since December.

Smith’s deal supersedes an $8.85 million, one-year agreement reached in January to avoid arbiatration under his rookie contract.

Smith, who turns 29 on Thursday, is in his sixth big-league season, all with the Dodgers. The team selected him in the first round of the 2016 MLB Draft.

Last season, Smith hit .261 with a .797 OPS, smacking 19 home runs and driving in 76 runs. He opened the season last week by going 5 for 10 with two RBIs as the Dodgers split a two-game series against the San Diego Padres in Seoul, South Korea.

Smith has a .263 average with 91 homers and 308 RBIs in six seasons with the Dodgers. He would have been eligible for free agency after the 2025 season. Instead, Smith’s deal will be the longest contract extension for a catcher in MLB history.

Smith’s deal is the third-largest contract given to a catcher behind Joe Mauer (eight years for $184M) and Buster Posey (nine years and $167M). Smith is just the fourth catcher in MLB history to sign a deal worth more than $100 million, joining Mauer, Posey, and JT Realmuto (five years, $115M).

Los Angeles has committed $1,365,687,500 to two-way star Shohei Ohtani ($700 million for 10 years), right-handers Yoshinobu Yamamoto ($325 million for 12 years) and Tyler Glasnow ($136,562,500 for five years), outfielder Teoscar Hernández ($23.5 million for one year) and Smith this offseason. That is in addition to long-term contracts handed out to perennial All-Stars and MVP candidates Mookie Betts in 2020 and Freddie Freeman in 2022.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.