Astros' Cam Smith is facing a big obstacle right now, and it couldn't be any clearer

While Houston Astros fans were excited to see the team give Cam Smith a shot after beginning the 2025 season on the Opening Day roster, it came with quite a bit of risk. Smith's professional track record was basically nonexistent given that he was only drafted last year. There was no guarantee he'd be able to parlay his strong spring into success at the major league level. Sadly, it appears that some of those concerns were well-founded and have manifested themselves into trouble with one particular type of pitch.

Through his first 30 games this season, Smith owns a .214/.313/.347 slash line in 112 plate appearances. His outfield defense has been better than expected and Smith's 10.7% walk rate certainly helps his cause. Aside from some momentary flashes of brilliance, however, Smith's performance at the plate has been largely disappointing.

Unfortunately, a closer look at Smith's struggles reveals one of his biggest issues — his performance against breaking balls — probably could have been improved with more time in the minors.

Astros rookie Cam Smith is struggling against breaking balls, and could've been prevented with more time in the minor leagues

There doesn't seem to be anything physically or mechanically "wrong" with Smith's swing and/ or approach. His bat speed is in the top 9% in all of baseball and Astros fans have already seen his ability to launch balls into orbit. However, hitting .133 against breaking balls with a lot of swings and misses is objectively bad. To put it bluntly, Smith will never succeed if he doesn't improve this area of his game.

This is exactly the type of issue that gets addressed in the minor leagues. Smith's bat speed makes him effective against velocity, but also makes him more vulnerable when he's sped up. It allows opposing pitchers to beat him with slow and/or curvy stuff.

Smith has to learn how professional pitchers change speeds and use tunneling to fool opposing batters, which, as it turns out, is exactly what following a typical path up the through the minor leagues allows a player to do. Methodically introducing a prospect to new challenges allows them to make adjustments if something becomes a problem.

Does that mean Smith is doomed? Absolutely not. He's far too talented to completely be writtne off this early in his career. Smith will learn and get better, although it may take some time and his rookie season may fall short of expectations as a result. One just hopes that the Astros rushing Smith to the big leagues didn't do any permanent damage to his development — something baseball fans have seen in the past.

More Astros News from Climbing Tal's Hill