Astros must focus on playing the long game with stalwart rookie

Cam Smith has been one of the best things about this year’s Houston Astros team. Despite coming into the year with just 33 minor league games under his belt, he's looked like a multi-year veteran this season. Based on the latest story from The Athletic (subscription required), however, it seems as though the Astros are working to lessen the amount of pressure placed on the rookie over the second-half of the 2025 season.

While Smith is regarded as one of the hardest workers on the Astros, his game has seen a dip in production of late, which is why some Astros coaches are working to limit the amount of work he puts during the team's pregame workouts.

“He comes out (and) wants to run down every fly ball when he’s not hitting, and I had to make him stop doing that. I said, ‘You hit, you go inside.’ I know you’re not a 10-year vet, but you make sure you go in and get your rest,” first base coach Dave Clark told The Athletic. 

Astros must focus on playing the long game with stalwart rookie Cam Smith

The long, arduous grind of the season could be impacting Smith. He's he’s hitting just .222 through 19 games in July after hitting better than .300 in May and June combined. While Smith has done an admirable job not letting the MLB learning curve get the best of him, it shouldn't come as surprise that the drudgery of the season is beginning to catch up to him.

It'll be tough for the Astros, however, to stick to limiting Smith's work given the current makeup of the team's roster. Isaac Paredes, an All-Star at third base this year, is going to be out for the foreseeable future. Couple that with injuries to Yordan Alvarez, Jeremy Peña, and Jacob Melton, and all of a sudden Smith’s bat is even more important to a lineup that's been in flux for most of the season.

The good news for Houston is the trade deadline is right around the corner, which means they could ease the burden on Smith’s shoulders by acquiring another bat or two. The Astros are rumored to be interested in Eugenio Suárez, but there are other unheralded available players who could help as well.

The Astros have plenty of holes in their roster, but they haven’t seemed as noticeable this year thanks to strong play from players like Smith. But it seems like a foregone conclusion that they're going to need to add some reinforcements to help him if they want that strong play to last.

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