Cam Smith's outburst pushes him into spotlight after curious lineup change vs. Mets

Cam Smith introduced himself to the Houston Astros fanbase in a rather emphatic way earlier this week. Smith, the Astros top prospect, went yard not once, but twice in Houston's Grapefruit League game against the New York Mets on Tuesday.

Smith went 2-for-2 after coming on for Isaac Paredes in the top of the fifth inning. Smith muscled a ball over the fence in right-center field during the bottom of the sixth to put Houston up 7-4 over New York. But the 22-year-old wasn't done showcasing his power and launched another home run onto the berm and finished the day with a pair of round-trippers and three RBI.

Smith will look for an encore performance on Thursday when the Astros go on the road to Port St. Lucie to battle the Mets for the second time in three days. Joe Espada, obviously impressed with Smith's performance, decided to offer the young slugger his first start of the spring season.

Top prospect Cam Smith is in the Astros starting lineup vs. NY Mets

It's just spring training, so let's not overreact. But, to be fair, spring training is built on overreactions, and there's no reason that the Houston faithful can't get excited at the sight of Smith's name on the lineup card.

Paredes was in the Astros lineup on Wednesday as Houston's DH while Shay Whitcomb and Pascanel Ferreras both saw time at third base. But Paredes is nowhere to be found in Espada's lineup on Thursday, and Smith is get the nod at the hot corner.

While it's a bit too early to read more into the siutation than what's there, it is interesting to see Smith in the lineup. Heading into the season, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that Paredes would line up at third base while Smith got his feet wet in the minor leagues. After all, the former Chicago Cubs' farmhand was drafted just last year and has only 32 professional games under his belt.

But traditional development has been cast aside in recent years and more and more young players are getting to the big leagues quicker. Could Smith be on that path? It's far too early to tell, but if Smith is able to duplicate his performance on Tuesday, there'll be a rallying cry from the Astros fanbase, and he'll suddenly be part of the Opening Day roster discussion.

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