This underrated Dodgers slugger is quietly threatening Shohei Ohtani for NL MVP

While it might be a little hard to argue that any player who earned a 10-year, $140 million contract extension as recently as last season is underrated, Will Smith has sort of been pushed out of the spotlight by his much more famous Dodgers teammates.

It makes sense — anyone who were to bat behind Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman would understandably get less attention, but Smith is having a better season at the plate than any of them by some metrics and is getting far less buzz.

He's batting .323 with a .965 OPS through 74 games — that's an average that could make him this year's National League batting champion, if he keeps it up. In his last seven games before the All-Star break, he hit .346 with a 1.100 OPS.

While he's had a few minor slumps, he's been far more consistent than any of his three MVP teammates. Ohtani leads the NL in homers but has a lower average and OBP than Smith overall and was struggling more through his seven games before the break. Mookie Betts' and Freddie Freeman's slumps have been a quiet emergency for LA.

But Smith has really only gotten better. Ohtani is still the odds-on favorite to win another MVP award, especially if he actually manages to pitch more in the second half, but Smith should also be a heavy consideration.

Will Smith is making a case for NL MVP with quiet .300/.400/.500 season for Dodgers

The question is whether or not Smith's success is truly sustainable. He's always been pretty excellent in the first half and has earned three consecutive All-Star appearances accordingly, but he tends to peter out in the second half (and especially in September). Although the postseason doesn't come into consideration in awards voting, he's also struggled to make an impression in October so far.

Regardless, he should be getting a lot more credit for his steadiness this season than he has been. Betts and Freeman continue to fluctuate — Betts even missed out on an All-Star appearance for the first time since 2015 and Freeman batted .179 with a .483 OPS in his last seven games before the break — but Smith is making the game look easy.

The last catcher to win an MVP award was Joe Mauer in 2009, and Smith already has heavy competition on his own team. But he should at least get some consideration in the voting for what he's done this year.