The way the real world works – by the time you are reading this Cam Smith will likely have played in another game and just as likely has “ruined” his fantasy hitting line.
That line is the result of coming to the plate four times in early Spring Training and walking twice and homering twice. That resulted in a crazy stat line of 1.000 BA/ 1.000 OBP/ 4.000 SLG / 5.000 OPS.
This has also resulted in a fit of mania in some fan circles not seen since a certain Cuban slugger was tearing up the minors back in 2019.
Part of the wonder of being a fan is the anticipation of the next big thing. Even in the darkest days of the franchise there were rumblings of a mighty mite who had an insane batting average at AA and earned a promotion to the big squad.
Here is a look at some of the “legends” who banged on the major league door….
– That mighty mite mentioned was of course Jose Altuve. In 2011 he put up a .409 BA/ .451 OBP/ 1.057 OPS slash in 52 games at A+ Lancaster, which admittedly was a huge hitter’s park. But even with coming back to sea level and playing 35 games at AA Corpus, he slashed .361 BA / .388 OBP / .958 OPS. The Astros were a drowning man bereft of talent at this time and promoted three players that were supposed to be their future – Altuve, JD Martinez and Jimmy Paredes. Paredes was not, Martinez was let go just when he was figuring things out and of course Altuve has been the team’s bright future.
– The next prospect that had folks salivating and in this case frustrated, was George Springer. The 2013 season was the depths of despair 111 loss season for the big team. But for purely money and control reasons Springer was kept in the minors not only throughout the 2013 season (.303 BA/ .411 OBP/ 1.010 OPS / 106 runs/ 37 HRs / 108 RBIs) but also for the start of 2014 long enough to lock him into another season of control. There may not have been another prospect in Astros history where the fans were screaming for him to be promoted for a longer period of time.
– Then there was Carlos Correa. Drafted first overall in 2012, the team might have wanted to slow roll him a bit for years of control, but his own fragility, a problem when he got to the big leagues also, slowed his rise to the MLB. He looked like he might blast up through the minors in 2014 when he started so fast at A+ ball hitting .325 BA/ .416 OBP/ .926 OPS, but that ended with a broken leg after 62 games. He then ripped through both AA and AAA in the first 53 games of 2015 (combined .335 BA/ .407 OBP/ 1.007 OPS), before getting promoted and winning the Rookie of the Year in only 99 games with the Astros.
– Alex Bregman rose so quickly there was hardly enough time for him to become legendary before he showed up. However, this was not true of Yordan Alvarez. After a very good 2018 season at AA and AAA (.293 BA/ .369 OBP/ .906 OPS) the rumors of an Adonis at Round Rock in the beginning of 2019 hitting everything with authority came floating up to the fandom in Houston. Like Correa – Alvarez had a great start to the season in the minors (.343 BA / .443 OBP/ 1.185 OPS) and then went bat guano crazy at the major league level easily winning the Rookie of the Year trophy in 87 games.
Cam Smith may never do what those players did, but he has already done one thing that this fan base needed and that is bring it hope for the future.
ALL THINGS ASTROS 
7 responses to “The Legend of Cam Smith”
Cam sure looks good in the uniform. But at this point, I’m thinking more about Hunter Brown and Spencer Arrighetti giving us a full year of quality pitching. I’m looking for Yanier to take the next step and be the hitter I think he can be. And I’d like to hope that Whitley stays healthy long enough so that we can figure out if he’s a major league caliber pitcher. But yes, what a boost Cam would be if he turned out to be another Springer or Correa. This year would be a real long shot though.
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The thing about Cam Smith is that he’s 22 now and if they start him at Corpus will be about a year and a half below the average age of the competition. You want to think he could put together a good half a year and get promoted to Sugarland, but he only has 32 games and 134 PA across all levels of the minors. That Altuve guy made it to Houston when he was still 21, but he also had been in the minors since he was 17 and seen over 1000 PA to that point. So as excited as I want to get about having such a talented player, I’m tempering those expectations thinking mid-2026 is probably the earliest we should hope to have him in Houston if things fall just right.
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I don’t know a lot about Cam Smith. We don’t really have any sample to look at. He looks like a guy that can hit a homerun or two. It just comes down to how consistently he can make hard contact.
I don’t think it’s necessary to spend any more time in the minors than your development demands of it. Samples on guys like Jacob Melton tells us that he might struggle if he made the jump right this second. When he does finally start taking reps in spring training we might see something different, but I always warn against small sample size, especially in spring training where not every pitcher you face is fighting for their professional lives. But if the Astros think he is ready, I find it unnecessary to spend any more time down there. The only argument is to make him give me 300-400 plate appearances to evaluate the consistency of hard contact and his ability to tell a ball from a strike.
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I had surgery on my right middle finger to reattach my tendon to my knuckle – separated when I banged it doing some chores at my moms
So I’m in an awkward splint for five weeks – bottom line that while I’m figuring things out my posts may be shorter with a little more audience participation
Go Astros
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Take it easy there!
Right now, I am just happy to see live baseball once again.
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Well, I’m seeing better!
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That is excellent news Daveb
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