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Wait, Mallex Smith did what?

So here's the sort of ridiculous stat line you don't see every day...

No steals, Mallex? C'mon.
No steals, Mallex? C'mon.

Atlanta Braves outfield prospect Mallex Smith absolutely stuffed the box score on Wednesday, tripling twice in the first inning against the O's, later adding a double, homer and three RBIs.

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All things considered, a pretty decent start to the exhibition season for the 22-year-old.

For those not familiar with Smith, the first thing you need to know is that power isn't typically his thing, despite Wednesday's outburst. Smith slugged just .386 in the high minors last season with 27 extra-base hits (two HRs) over 126 games.

But here's why fantasy owners need to care about him: Smith has high-end speed — elite, weapons-grade speed. Check the tape. He stole 57 bags last year across two minor league stops, and he swiped 88 in 2014. Smith is a willing walker with a career minor league OBP of .380, so he doesn't generally lack opportunities to run.

[Fantasy Baseball Rankings: Top 250 | 1B | 2B | SS | 3B | C | OF | SP | RP] 

Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez seemed reasonably impressed with Smith after Wednesday's binge:

"That's game-changing speed. ... He's getting better, he's cleaning up his game and he's getting closer to the Major Leagues. He's receptive to everything, which is good. ... He has a great attitude along with pretty good talent, and we saw a little bit of it today — especially the speed."

Of course we're only talking about a single spring performance at the beginning of a long stretch of meaningless games. No one is making any short-term promises about Smith (although we've hyped him in High Fives a time or two). But whenever he arrives in Atlanta in a full-time role — probably not April, but certainly this season — he figures to be an immediate difference-maker in steals. File away the name for later use.