Half-baked 'plan' for Cam Smith could backfire on Astros in catastrophic fashion

How can you not be excited about Cam Smith? Those Houston Astros fans were decrying the Kyle Tucker trade earlier this offseason probably owe general manager Dana Brown an apology at this point.

While the Astros gave up a lot in their trade with the Cubs, Houston may have a secured a cornerstone of their franchise for the next decade. Smith has easily been the talk of Astros camp all spring, and the young infielder just keeping mashing.

Smith went 3-for-4 in Thursday's Grapefruit League game against the Mets and raised his OPS to a ridiculous 2.097. His performance this spring has been so spectacular that many fans (and pundits) believe that he should be part of the Astros Opening Day roster.

Half-baked 'plan' for Cam Smith could backfire on Astros in catastrophic fashion

Okay, while carrying Smith on the Opening Day roster sounds fun, let's all take a breath for just a minute, shall we? Spring training is a breeding ground for overreactions. Yordan Alvarez has just one hit during Grapefruit League play, and no one is clamoring for the Astros to bench their best hitter because he's off to a slow start. Josh Hader has more walks than he does strikeouts, but everyone knows he'll be Houston's closer this season. See, it works both ways.

Now, that's not a shot at Smith, and you can't just outright dismiss his early-spring production. The former first-round pick has certainly lived up to the hype, is saying all the right things, and happens to play a position that could be available if Christian Walker opens the season on the Injured list. The Astros' top free agent signing is dealing with an oblique injury and could be placed on the IL ahead of Opening Day.

With that premise now on the table, curiosity has exploded. Speculation has grown to the point where some have thought it'd be a good idea if Isaac Paredes shifts from third base to first base in place of Walker, allowing Smith to man the hot corner.

But the cold, hard truth is that Houston has better options than that. One of Zach Dezenzo or Shay Whitcomb, especially in the early-going would be a far better option than Smith. Even keeping Jon Singleton provides Houston with a better short-term solution if Walker is bound to miss some time.

In Smith, we're talking about a prospect who's barely gotten his feet wet in the minor leagues. The 22-year-old has just five professional games above High-A and should probably be send to Double-A Corpus Christi to begin his 2025 campaign.

Cam Smith should begin his Astros career in the minor leagues

The worst thing that could happen is Houston bungling this opportunity, starting Smith's clock far too soon only to see him flail about during his introduction to the majors, and because the club couldn't exercise patience with their top prospect.

It's very tempting nowadays to see players like Paul Skenes and Wyatt Langford make huge impressions early in their careers and think your organization can do the same thing. But the Baltimore Orioles had to send the highly-touted Jackson Holliday back to the minors in 2024 after calling him far too soon. Astros fans even got a front row seat to watch their AL West rival, the Los Angeles Angels, promote Nolan Schanuel a little prematurely as well.

Houston needs to let Smith get as many reps as possible in spring training, then send him to the minor leagues to begin his Astros' career. If what he's done during spring training becomes par for the course by June, then by all means, it's time for him to get the call. Until then, the Astros fanbase needs to exercise patience.

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