Dominic Smith is thriving with the Giants. What does that mean for next season?

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The Giants have two first basemen of the future. Then they have Dominic Smith, the best defender of the group, the best contact hitter of the group, and someone who fits nicely into where the Giants eventually want to go.

It could be quite the logjam because all three first basemen bat left-handed, so there are no platoon options. Rafael Devers, who’s signed through 2033, and top prospect Bryce Eldridge still are learning the intricacies of the position while Smith has shown expert skills around the bag.

Here’s the question: What do the Giants do with all of these guys?

Devers isn’t going anywhere as the Giants’ mega acquisition in mid-June. Eldridge, 20, could be a star one day, an extremely gifted power threat who’s getting reps at Triple-A Sacramento and could make his major-league debut next April — unless he’s traded in the offseason, which would be stunning.

As for Smith, 30, who drove in four runs Friday night and homered into McCovey Cove to help the Giants to a 15-8 victory over Baltimore, their sixth straight win, he’ll be a free agent after this season. He was signed in early June to replace slumping LaMonte Wade Jr. and has demonstrated effective bat-to-ball skills all summer.

Smith has just four homers in 169 at-bats, but his strikeout rate is a very decent 20.1%. He makes contact. He gets hits. He leads the team in batting average at .284 — and he seems to be what management likes in a hitter at pitcher-friendly Oracle Park, someone who can stroke the ball to all fields and isn’t so homer-happy that he’d rack up large K numbers.

“I'm enjoying my time here with San Francisco,” Smith said. “From Day One, they've treated me like family and welcomed me with open arms. As a ballplayer, when you come to a historic franchise like this, when you feel the energy, when you see the fan base come out and support the team, it's something that you live for and want to play for.

“I go to the top step of the dugout and cherish the scene, the moments. I’m really in awe of how beautiful the ballpark is. Just everything about the Bay I love. I'm very thankful for Buster (Posey) and the front office and BoMel (Bob Melvin) for trusting me, giving me a chance. It's been awesome.”

Sounds like someone who’d be open to returning in 2026. Until further notice, the Giants need to be open to all possibilities, and one clear option is for Smith, should he and the Giants agree to a new deal, to play some outfield. Which isn’t foreign to him.

Smith has 165 big-league starts in the outfield, all in left, most recently in 2021 with 107 starts as a Met. He also played the outfield earlier this season on the Yankees’ Triple-A team, 22 starts in left and three in right, and was able to display what he learned over the winter when he made a concerted effort to increase his versatility and enhance his outfield game. He hired a track coach and worked on his speed and running form to help his routes.

“I just really had a different mindset about it. I was open to it,” Smith said. “It wasn't something that was thrown at me sporadically, which had happened to me in the past. So to be open to it and having that mindset of wanting to do it, I think it made my play out there a little bit better than in the past, and it was a fun experiment.”

Friday, Smith hit a sacrifice fly, crushed the team’s first “splash hit” into the cove since April 9, and singled home another run. Luis Matos also homered and collected four of the Giants’ season-high 18 hits, the latest example of the resurgent offense. Their 15 runs were their most at Oracle Park since 2015, and during their win streak, they’ve outscored their foes 47-20.

The homer into the bay gave Smith his biggest postgame smile.

“One of the most iconic things in all of sports is seeing guys hit balls into that water, into McCovey Cove,” he said. “The list of guys who’ve done it for this franchise, they’re legendary players. When I got the call to put on this uniform, I knew it was something I wanted to do. Every kid growing up dreams of those moments. So for it to actually happen, it’s very surreal, something I’m going to cherish forever, and I look forward to trying to get a few more out there.

“You look around the ballpark and kind of say, ‘Pinch me, am I dreaming?’ And you realize you’re not.”

On a team that has struggled with runners in scoring position at least until lately (8-for-17 Friday), Smith is an exception. He’s hitting .375 in 40 at-bats in those situations, .421 in 19 at-bats with RISP and two outs. He also has a .299 career average as a pinch hitter and is 4-for-6 in the pinch this year. 

The Giants will be looking to make changes to their roster depth over the winter, but there are several reasons Smith could be a keeper — especially because of his high contact rate, a trait that goes back to his days at Junipero Serra High School in Gardena, a reason the Mets made him a first-round pick in 2013.

“They saw me as a high-average, high-contact guy,” Smith said. “When I got to the big leagues, I kind of got away from that for a few years, and then I kind of understood what made me special, my contact skills. So just getting back to myself, being an old-school, throwback player, which is putting the ball in play, using my hand-eye coordination, spraying the ball all over the field, and not trying to swing for the fences.”

Part of Smith’s old-school game is maintaining a two-strike approach. He uses a leg kick until he gets to two strikes, then keeps his foot down to better control his shortened swing, increasing his chances for good contact. That was the case with his first-inning sac fly. With so many big-leaguers focusing on exit velocity and launch angle, even with two strikes, it’s refreshing when someone tries to avoid a strikeout at all costs.

“With a leg kick, your head moves a little bit more,” Smith said. “With your foot on the ground, you're already precocked and ready to fire. At that point, you're just trying to get a good pitch in the zone and take your easy swing. It takes a lot of the guesswork out of it. It removes a lot of the moving parts in the swing and simplifies it and buys you an extra few seconds so you can recognize the pitches.”

In many ways, Smith speaks Posey’s language. And Melvin’s. And conforms with what the hitting coaches are trying to preach as a recipe for success at Oracle Park. Smith may or may not be on the 2026 roster, depending on where free agency takes him and whether the Giants see a fit, but he certainly is a player with a unique skillset that could continue to work well at Third and King.

All-Star reliever Randy Rodríguez possibly is heading for Tommy John surgery on his right elbow, which means he’d probably miss the entire 2026 season. Two doctors have recommended the surgery including Giants orthopedist Ken Akizuki.

Rodríguez, who has a 1.78 ERA and 0.888 WHIP with 67 strikeouts and 11 walks in 50 outings, is weighing options and will decide the next step this weekend. He said he has felt some discomfort in the elbow since last season, and it worsened in recent outings.

“I’ve been playing with that pain all year long,” Rodríguez said through Spanish language interpreter Erwin Higueros. “So I think that if I do make the decision to go through with the surgery, I hope that that helps me be pain free.”

A bullpen without Rodríguez that also lost Camilo Doval and Tyler Rogers at the trade deadline will need dramatic upgrades in the offseason. Rodríguez had pitched himself from a valuable setup man into the closer’s job, but when he went on the injured list last weekend, Ryan Walker became closer.