Inside the Astros

WATCH: Astros' Promising Young Rookie Crushes First Career Home Run

The Houston Astros have high hopes for this youngster, and he showed everybody why with this homer.
Jacob Moss|
Apr 11, 2025; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Astros right fielder Cam Smith (11) rounds the bases after hitting a two run home run against the Los Angeles Angels in the eighth inning at Daikin Park.
Apr 11, 2025; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Astros right fielder Cam Smith (11) rounds the bases after hitting a two run home run against the Los Angeles Angels in the eighth inning at Daikin Park. | Thomas Shea-Imagn Images

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Houston Astros

The Houston Astros have been struggling a bit early in the season, entering Friday night's matchup against the Los Angeles Angels at a 5-7.

Their promising young rookie outfielder Cam Smith, who made the Opening Day roster after a stellar spring training, had also been scuffling over his first eight MLB games.

The 22-year-old phenom entered Friday's series opener with a paltry .200/.286/.280 batting line and only one extra-base hit (a triple).

Fortunately, Smith and his teammates finally turned things around on Friday, at least for a night. The Astros pulverized the Angels 14-3 at Daikin Park, banging out 16 hits.

Houston ended its extreme power outage with three home runs, nearly half of its season total (seven) coming into the game.

One of those dingers came off the bat of Smith in the bottom of the eighth, serving as the cherry on top.

Smith smoked a 1-1 changeup off Los Angeles reliever Ian Anderson, sending it an estimated 370 feet into the left-field Crawford Boxes for a two-run homer.

His first career big fly capped a 2-for-4 day at the plate with three RBI and a walk. He now has multiple hits in back-to-back games and two extra-base hits in his last three games, so perhaps is bat is finally waking up from its early-season slumber.

Hopefully this is a sign of things to come for Smith, who looks more comfortable in the batter's box after initially appearing overwhelmed. Now that he's heating up and has his first career big fly under his belt, maybe he's about to take off.

Astros fans hope that's the case, as Smith needs to hit to justify the Kyle Tucker trade with the Chicago Cubs. He also needs to start producing if he wants to win AL Rookie of the Year honors, and this weekend's home series against a suspect Angels pitching staff is the perfect time to get going.

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Jacob Moss
JACOB MOSS

Georgia native and avid Atlanta sports fan who has lived in the Charlotte area for the past eight years. Got started writing about sports for my middle school paper and haven’t stopped since. Graduate from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and proud 49er. Passionate sports writer who has covered everything from high school soccer to the NFL for several prominent outlets including the Charlotte Observer, ESPN, and the Carolina Panthers. Also covered the South Carolina Gamecocks football program as the lead beat writer for Last Word on College Football, and was a contributing writer for several other notable online publications such as Yardbarker. Lives and breathes sports and will watch whatever is on or in season. Favorite teams include the Braves, Hawks, Falcons, and Georgia Bulldogs. Massive Jordan Speith and Rory McIlroy fan on the PGA Tour

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