As Director of Pro Scouting, I lead a talented group of evaluators as we break down future stars. You can find me at random California League games throughout the season!
The Astros are firmly in a different era than they have been long ago. They have lost franchise stalwarts in Alex Bregman and traded away Kyle Tucker to admittedly get their top prospect. But the Astros are looking to refresh a roster that had a lot of success. They have done a good job, all things considered, of pumping out talented players to refresh certain parts of their roster, even with the punishments handed from the cheating scandal. The Astros love themselves a big and tall pitcher with at least four pitches they can mix and match against a lineup; they are still piggybacking their pitching prospects to have them prepared to be in the bullpen. They have targeted hitters who are lifting or need to lift and pull their batted balls to better play with the Crawford Boxes. The next wave of Astros baseball could be an interesting one, as they could see 4 of their top 5 prospects graduate and try and replace the outgoing production in the aggregate, especially if Cam Smith is the opening day right-fielder like they have been saying at the time of writing this list.
About Our Top 20 Lists
Prospects Live, led by its evaluating team & Director of Scouting Rhys White, is proud to begin rolling out its annual offseason system reports. The team combines industry feedback, our live looks, film, and available data to compile each org. We believe this effort has enabled us to present you, the reader, with our best possible view of the prospects in the organization.
We have constructed this list using the Overall Future Potential (OFP) scale. There is no perfect equation for ranking prospects or assigning value to them, but we believe this method is the best possible approach. Every prospect on this list has been graded based on the tried and true 20-80 scouting scale. An 80 is the highest tool and OFP grade on the scale, reserved for MVP-caliber players or tools. Conversely, a 20 is reserved for non-prospects (NPs). A 50 OFP falls in the middle, indicating our evaluators deem this player a future average major league player. Below the 50 OFP tier are the 45s and 40s, comprising a large majority of players on each list. These are specific-role players, such as platoon hitters, utility players, or low-leverage relievers. Above the 50 OFP tier are the 55s and 60s. A 55 represents a future above-average player, and a 60 OFP designation is reserved for future All-Star caliber players.
In addition to the tool grades and OFP, we will also include a 'Risk' associated with each prospect. We use this to better communicate to you, the reader, whether a grade is more aggressive or conservative in nature. The evaluation team has worked hard to apply both the grades and risk components to better illustrate how each individual prospect stacks up in their respective system and in the baseball ecosystem.
Before he even signed as a professional, there were talks about what if Cam Smith lifted and pulled the ball more, and almost immediately upon signing, he began doing so. The Cubs got him to get out in front of batted balls, and now Cam Smith looks like one of the best picks in the draft and was the primary piece in the trade that netted the Cubs Kyler Tucker from the Astros. Cam Smith is a well-built athlete with plenty of muscle on his frame. There are some slight concerns he might get too big and have to move off third base, but as currently constructed, he has good enough instincts and reflexes, and an above-average arm helps. In the batter's-box, Cam Smith must have been instructed to have a more linear bat path with a more all-fields approach during his time at Florida State, and then the Cubs got him to get out a touch quicker, especially on pitches to all fields, and that slight change has allowed him to translate that raw power you would expect from someone who is 6'3" 224 pounds. He has always had good swing decisions, allowing him to attack pitches all over the strike zone. Even with the new swing decisions, his power plays to all fields, as he will take the ball the other way with authority. Smith's post-draft outlook is much rosier than his pre draft outlook, and now he looks to be a top 50 prospect, with upside for much more. The Astros saw the lift-and-pull approach and wanted to get in that business with the Crawford Boxes while being a league-average defender at an important defensive position. - Rhys White
Dynasty Outlook
My pre-draft comp of Yandy DÃaz for Cam Smith was founded on his great power, strong swing, and terrible launch angle. As a professional, though, Smith leveraged one of the three most impressive pro debuts and a new lift-and-pull profile into ultimate fantasy hype. Now in Houston as the key cog in the Kyle Tucker return, Smith boasted a 90th-percentile exit velocity at Florida State and an 82 percent contact rate and carried this over by staying aggressive across the zone and spraying balls across the field with his quick hands. For fantasy purposes—sorry, Cubs fans—there is a real shot Cam Smith begins 2025 in Houston and never looks back. Your buying window may be restricted to having a strong FYPD pick, as Smith ranked 61st in the team’s February 2025 list. - Drew Wheeler
As Director of Pro Scouting, I lead a talented group of evaluators as we break down future stars. You can find me at random California League games throughout the season!
As Director of Pro Scouting, I lead a talented group of evaluators as we break down future stars. You can find me at random California League games throughout the season!
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As Director of Pro Scouting, I lead a talented group of evaluators as we break down future stars. You can find me at random California League games throughout the season!
