Houston Astros Boss Has Wildly High Praise For New Top Prospect After Trade

The Houston Astros shattered hearts of their fans and broke the baseball news cycle when they dealt away arguably their best player in the Kyle Tucker trade with the Chicago Cubs.

For as good as Tucker was throughout his Astros career, he will be a free agent next offseason and clearly the franchise did not feel confident in their ability to re-sign him for the long term, thus choosing to get what they could for him now rather than be left with nothing a year from now.

The haul for Tucker was considerable. It included a new third baseman, likely to replace Alex Bregman, in Isaac Paredes, as well as a promising young arm in Hayden Wesneski.

But the most significant part of the deal likely won't even see the field in Houston this season, though his time is coming and it's coming fast.

In the Cubs' talent-rich farm system, infielding prospect Cam Smith did not get quite the shine he deserved and may have had competition in front of him from fellow blue chippers in his quest to get on the field.

In Houston, however, Smith immediately became the top prospect in the organization and has the ability to become a franchise cornerstone when he eventually takes the field at the MLB level.

While speaking at the team's annual media luncheon, Astros general manager Dana Brown said via Brian McTaggart of MLB.com that he believes Smith has the ability to be an "aircraft carrier" type of prospect, meaning the ability to shoulder the heavy burden of being the great hope for a franchise within their farm system.

Smith, currently rated by MLB Pipeline as the No. 59 prospect in baseball, may prove to be a whole lot better than that.

He was a first round selection by Chicago in the 2024 MLB draft with the No. 14 overall pick out of Florida State. He's expected to shoot up the rankings list as he climbs the minor league ladder.

He had a monster final season for the Seminoles with an OPS of 1.142 and a .387 average with 16 home runs and 57 RBI in just 66 games.

Getting his first taste of minor league action this past year, Smith climbed all the way up to Double-A by the end of the season after posting an OPS over 1.000 across 27 games in Low-A and High-A. Though he only played a total of 32 games, the numbers were incredibly encouraging with a .313 average, a ridiculous .609 slugging percentage and a historic power surge.

It will be fascinating to see what Smith does this season in a new organization with a full season of Double-A - and potentially Triple-A if he performs well enough - ahead of him.

While he likely won't take the field for the Astros until 2026, forcing fans to be patient, the young, soon-to-be 22-year-old has instantly become the most fascinating and intriguing prospect Houston has had in a long time.

Time will tell if Smith can be the "aircraft carrier" Brown thinks he is, but there certainly is a ton of anticipation surrounding the future star.

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