Yankees re-sign one of their best spring training hitters to minor league contract

Unless it was to add bodies to the pitching staff, most New York Yankees fans figured the team was going to hold off on bringing aboard any offense in the early going after they swept the Milwaukee Brewers behind 36 runs in three games.

Setting multiple records in the process, the Yankees bashed 15 homers with the suspected help of the new "torpedo" bats and exceeded everybody's expectations after Opening Weekend.

But on Monday, as they await the Arizona Diamondbacks for a three-game set in the Bronx, they decided to insure themselves as best they could offensively by reuniting with one of their spring training stars.

Dominic Smith, who exercised his opt-out clause after it became clear he would not be earning a roster spot, has re-signed with the Yankees on a minor league contract. We can suspect he'll be reporting to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

Originally believed to be in the mix for Opening Day DH/1B reps, Smith was passed over asthe Yankees prioritized Ben Rice and Pablo Reyes with hopes of further developing one of their younger bats and emphasizing positional flexibility.

Yankees News: Dominic Smith returns to NYY on minor league contract

Smith had been in the mix throughout the team's time in Tampa, but it just didn't lineup when it came time for the Yankees to make an official call. He hit .297 with an .857 OPS, three homers and 12 RBI in his 37 at-bats. Pretty good for somebody looking to make a case for a job.

But the Yankees had plenty of promising spring performances, ranging from Rice to Reyes to Paul Goldschmidt to Everson Pereira, which created a bit of a logjam. Not only that, but the Yankees somehow found themselves with too many left-handed hitters, rendering Smith more of a redundancy. This, of course, came after years of the Yankees failing to properly balance their lineup.

It's still possible only an injury could elevate Smith to the MLB roster, but he still opted to rejoin New York after exploring opportunities elsewhere. One could assume there wasn't a whole lot of demand.

The Yankees are no stranger to injuries or underperformance, though, so it's entirely likely we see Smith logging big league reps before the end of the month regardless of how hot this team started the year.