Cam Smith’s first two seasons in Houston have given the Astros something useful in right field, even if the bat hasn’t fully matched the first-round hype.
By the time 2027 opens, Smith will be headed into his third season with the club. He arrived in the 2024-25 offseason and, a bit surprisingly, cracked the 26-man roster to start the 2025 season. Since then, he has put together a .670 OPS over 291 major league games and hit .222 in an Astros uniform.
The power has ticked up, though the overall offensive picture still needs work. In 2025, Smith batted .236 with nine homers.
This year, his average slipped to .210, but his power jumped to 21 home runs. The Astros outfielder also struggled in 2026 with the second worst OPS in baseball.
There’s still a path to a productive season if the pieces come together. If Smith can pair his 2025 batting average with his 2026 power, he could give Houston a much more valuable year. He has already produced a 2.0 bWAR in 2025 while playing on his pre-arbitration million-dollar deal, then followed that with a 1.0 bWAR in 2026.
Defensively, Smith has continued to hold his own in right field. He was a finalist for the gold glove for right field in each of his two seasons, with the 2026 winner to be announced on Nov.1. He has also built a reputation as a tough outfielder to challenge, showing off the kind of range that steals hits from hitters who think they’ve found open grass.
The advanced numbers are mixed, but not without positives. Smith’s dWAR dropped from 0.9 in 2025 to 0.1 this past season.
He recorded five defensive runs saved in the outfield, with four in right and one in center, after posting 12 the year before. His fielding percentage dipped from .992 to .981.
Still, there were bright spots in the metrics. His outs above average improved from one to six, and his fielding run value finished at plus-three, built from a -3.0 arm value and a 6.0 range value.
He also increased his outfield assists from six to eight. Smith led the league in put outs as a right fielder with 294, a number that speaks to how much ground he covered in 2026, and he led all American Leaguers in outfield games played with 157.
That makes 2027 a big checkpoint. The Astros are expecting his OPS to rise while he remains their everyday right fielder in his age 24 season. Even with the uneven offensive results at the big-league level, his minor league and college track record suggests there’s still plenty of upside left in the bat.
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