As the newly minted Manager of the Year of the inaugural MLB The Show Players League, Orioles outfielder Dwight Smith Jr gained some valuable perspective on how his own skipper must feel sometimes. But in real life, he’s content with letting Brandon Hyde shoulder those types of decisions.

“I didn’t second-guess the moves I made -- you make a decision and you have to live with it,” Smith said on a Zoom conference call Wednesday, reflecting on his unlikely playoff run in the Players League that wrapped earlier this week. “Manager-wise, I probably won’t get into that until I’m done playing. I’ll let Brandon handle that.”

Smith certainly enjoyed pulling those virtual strings, though. While quarantined with his family in Peachtree City, Ga., the O’s outfielder spent the better part of the past three weeks introducing himself to a national audience from the comfort of his couch, emerging as a surprise star of MLB’s first league-wide gaming tournament.

Smith went 19-10 to claim fifth place in the 30-player league, where each team was managed by a big leaguer on its current roster. The Orioles have a 69 overall rating in the game, making Smith’s postseason berth even more impressive. He was ousted in the first round by Mets infielder Jeff McNeil. Rays lefty Blake Snell ultimately defeated White Sox ace Lucas Giolito in the championship.

Smith was the runaway winner for Manager of the Year honors, receiving 34 percent of the fan vote and eight player votes. He also received votes for the league’s “Best Player” award, which went to Rangers slugger Joey Gallo.

“Playing a video game virtually and giving the fans something to talk about and cheer for, it was one of the coolest things I’ve done video game-wise,” Smith said. “They pretty much saw my more relaxed side and my competitive side at the same time. When I’m playing, I’m all business. But off the field, I’m a totally different person. I’m more relaxed, just chill, just having fun. When I’m playing the game, I flip that switch. So they saw two different sides of me.”

The lowkey side of Smith’s personality was on full display during the tournament, as he danced and celebrated many of his home runs -- he cited hitting homers with Chris Davis as a highlight. He also gave his upstart squad a catchy nickname by dubbing it “The Boom Boom Room,” after hearing the phrase in the Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence 1999 movie “Life.” It was an accidental reference to Trey Mancini’s real-life nickname “Boomer.”

“I liked playing with all [of my teammates]. Everybody had their moment during that season,” he said. “Playing with myself, I loved my leg kick and all that. Getting a couple base hits to win a game -- hopefully we can do that during the season, too. That was awesome.”

When and if that times comes, Smith figures to play a larger part in the Orioles’ plans than originally thought. While he seemed set for a bench role when Spring Training was halted, he now appears to be a primary candidate to claim the at-bats vacated by Mancini, who is expected to miss the entire year while undergoing treatment for Stage 3 colon cancer.

Until then, Smith must find new ways to pass the time in quarantine with the Players League complete. He recently joined the popular video-sharing app TikTok and is thinking about getting back into DJing.

“Now that I have more time to relax, I might pick it back up,” said Smith, who hit .241 with 13 homers and a .708 OPS last season. “I’m hanging around my family. We’ve been doing a lot of stuff together -- watching movies, playing board games, doing those family things. My workouts really get me through the day. By the time I’m done working out, I just want to sit down, relax and read a book or something like that.”