Will Smith's formal Jurickson Profar apology shows Padres got in his head

Will Smith couldn't have had any idea what Jurickson Profar would turn into after Smith called him "irrelevant" following a benches-clearing hit by pitch incident earlier this season. At the time, Profar was just a fading player who the Padres saved with a minor-league deal in 2023, then re-signed to a meager $1.5 million contract in 2024.

Sure, Profar was hitting pretty well by mid-April when the aforementioned incident occurred, but that was just a hot streak that would fade, right? Surely, Profar wouldn't go on to be one of the best hitters in baseball, an All-Star, and a plausible candidate for NL MVP, right?

Well, no. By the end of April, Profar was hitting .318. End of May, .330. At the All-Star break, Profar is hitting .305 with an .870 OPS. For a time, his .400+ OBP led all National League batters.

"Irrelevant" has become a word that Padres fans have liked to level right back at Smith, who's had more ups-and-downs than Profar this season. Both are in Arlington as All-Stars, but it still gives more ammo to Padres fans: Profar is a starter, Smith is not.

On the ground at the All-Star festivities, Smith extended a formal apology to Profar for his comments earlier this season, saying, "It was the situation only. My bad. It was nothing personal. [...] He's a competitor and a good player" (subscription required).

Will Smith apologizes to Jurickson Profar after "irrelevant" comment during Dodgers-Padres series

Profar has never enjoyed as good a season as the one he's currently having. During his first three-year stint with the Padres from 2020 to 2022, he did have a pretty respectable season right at the top (.278 average, .771 OPS), but it was pretty much immediately discounted because it came during the COVID season. He's been a member of four different organizations across 11 years in the majors, and he's had to wait to get his first All-Star appearance until this year.

Admittedly, Profar's ascendence this year has been baffling. Was calling him "irrelevant" a pretty rude and slightly arrogant thing for Smith to do no matter who he was? Yes, but he certainly wouldn't have had to apologize if Profar hadn't seemed to feed off that negativity to become one of the Padres' most valuable players, if not the most valuable.

Unless Profar completely bombs through the rest of the season, Padres fans aren't going to leave Smith alone about this anytime soon. It's a small comfort at San Diego is still languishing in mediocrity in the grander scheme of things, but unfortunately, Profar's presence on the team has been a huge reason they aren't doing worse.