Astros' collapse may be behind them, but their Cam Smith blunder isn’t

The Houston Astros' decision to put 2024 first-round pick Cam Smith on their Opening Day roster was the talk of the first month of the season. Acquired from the Chicago Cubs in the Kyle Tucker, Smith was blistering hot in spring training, and in a year where the idea was that Houston would be leaning toward their younger players, it was hard to see much issue with the decision.

For the first three months of the season, the decision seemed to be paying off. The Astros were flirting with being one of the best teams in the American League, and Smith entered July with a slash line of .279/.351/.426 with a wRC+ of 120 and 7 home runs. As with any rookie, Smith had moments where he looked overwhelmed, but nothing in the first half suggested the Astros made a mistake.

It was a different story during the final three months of the season. From July 1 to the end of the season, Smith slashed .188/.269/.277 with a 56 wRC+ and 2 home runs. Adding to his struggles was the fact that he was striking out nearly 30% of the time during that miserable stretch. In a world where the Astros had minor-league depth, it would have been easy to option Smith to the minors, but they were forced to keep him on the roster and hope that deadline arrival, Jesus Sanchez, made life easier. It didn't.

Astros’ handling of Cam Smith already looks like a colossal mistake

Amid all the post-mortem takes that have been had about the Astros' collapse at the end of the season, Michael Shapiro of Yahoo Sports highlighted why Smith's time on the MLB roster this year was a mistake. In having him on the Major League roster at the start of the season, the Astros were willing to lose a year of control over the first-round pick. Smith will now become a free agent after 2030, and considering he won't finish as a finalist for the American League Rookie of the Year award this year, the Astros won't even benefit from MLB's PPI program.

Even with the way that the 2025 season ended for Smith and the Astros, chances are the 22-year-old will live up to being the middle-of-the-order hitter that Houston believes him to be. If he does, the blunder of how he was handled this season could come back to bite the Astros, considering the team has one less year of control over him, and Smith, if he reaches his potential, would be in line for a lucrative long-term contract. Something the Astros haven't exactly shown an inclination for agreeing to in recent years.

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