Cam Smith goes 3-for-5 in Astros’ victory

Duran left a splitter up and Smith took it up and out to left-center, homering for the third straight day to give the Astros a 2-1 lead in the ninth inning. That’s one way to respond to a loss of playing time. Smith is now hitting .350/.409/.900 over his last seven games and has hit 20 homers and stolen 10 bases in his age-23 season. Not too shabby even if he hasn’t been an instant star after being included in the Kyle Tucker trade.

Smith took a chance and ran through a stop sign at third base to score his first run on Jeremy Peña’s double. Especially after he was sat down in back-to-back games over the weekend, it was a little surprising to see Smith in the lineup tonight against a righty after he struck out three all three times up on Monday. He’ll be back in there Wednesday against a lefty, though it will be a touch matchup versus Christopher Sánchez.

It’s definitely not looking good for Smith at the moment, though a couple of nice games could always change things. It’s not like Trammell or Wade is hitting, and Smith is the best defensive outfielder of the three.

Early in August, it had seemed like Smith had turned a corner. He was pulling the ball in the air more and making more authoritative contact. However, over his last 15 games, he’s hitting .122/.156/.317 with a 29 percent strikeout rate. He’s only 23 years old and prospect growth is not linear, so we wouldn’t turn the page on Smith completely, but he’s hard to trust in redraft formats for the remainder of this season. LaMonte Wade Jr. will start in left field and bat ninth.

Smith prevented the shutout against the Angels with a solo homer off José Fermin in the eighth inning to provide Houston’s only run. The home run keeps Smith hot in the month, hitting .355 with four homers in August. The 23-year-old outfielder is up to 17 homers, 54 runs scored, 46 RBI, and 10 steals while slashing .223/.292/.402 across 449 plate appearances.

Jeremy Peña and Isaac Paredes combined to plate three in the 10th. Smith, though, was the biggest reason the Astros were still in the game at that point. He singled in the fifth, hit a 402-foot homer to tie the game at 2-2 in the seventh and then snuck a ball through the infield for another single that tied the game with two outs in the ninth. Smith is 16-for-37 with three homers and eight RBI in his last 10 games. It seemed like playing time might be an issue for him after Daulton Varsho was acquired but he picked a good time for one of his best stretches of the year.

Smith needed to get hot with the Astros adding Daulton Varsho at the deadline, and he’s definitely improved his case for remaining a regular outfielder in going 13-for-30 with five extra-base hits in his last eight games. It’s raised his OPS from .641 to .686.

The Astros stormed back with an eight-run sixth inning here after an early five-run deficit. Smith had the biggest hit in that inning with a two-run shot off reliever Bryan Hudson to give Houston their first lead of the contest. It was his 13th home run of the season and came as he was mired in a brutal 1-for-28 slump heading into this game and had been riding the bench since last Sunday seemingly to clear his head. The tools remain loud though and Smith remains the type of player who you could catch lightning in a bottle with.

Smith now has 11 homers on the season. He hit a solo shot off Zebby Matthews in the fifth inning and another solo shot off Yoendrys Gómez in the ninth inning. Smith now has four home runs in the last seven games. While his power is something to dream on, the 23-year-old outfielder is hitting just .222 with a .685 OPS and 32 RBI.

Smith is patrolling right field and hitting sixth after fouling a ball off his foot over the weekend. The 23-year-old former top prospect didn’t end up missing any time since he came off the bench during Sunday’s series finale against Detroit. He’s homered twice in his last six games, but continues to be a liability in the batting average department, which severely limits his realistic fantasy appeal.