To me, Cam is Correa's physical attributes with Bregman's plate discipline. That is why I'm so high on him.
For sure. He is not a potential gold glove in the infield like Correa and Bregman. I do think he could get a gold glove in the outfield because of his athleticism.
I don’t think Bregman was on the level of Correa as a prospect. I never felt that way. Correa felt like a future hall of famer to me, Bregman felt like a future all star. I never saw the power potential in Bregman I did Correa. I know he’s hit more HR but that’s bc he pulls the ball all the time and doesn’t go oppo hitting it hard. I keep dreaming of Correa pulling the ball more often and hitting 40 HR’s regularly but looks like that won’t happen.
We can quibble about degrees. But both Correa and Bregman were consensus top 3 prospects in the sport at one time and clearly in a different tier than Smith.
There’s a HUGE difference between a guy drafted in the 10-20 range of a draft and a top 3 prospect in all of baseball. Smith is a “top tier” prospect in the same sense George Springer was. Bregman and Correa were on another level.
I was always under the impression that slotting and the availability to sign players for x amount of dollars factored in almost as much as perceived talent. I'm not saying he is a top 3 guy, but he passes my eye test at the plate. where we position him in the field could have weight as far as his value by the evaluators.
Slot value doesn’t usually impact first rounders more than a handful of draft spots. Nobody drafted 14th was actually in consideration higher than probably 8th or 9th. And even top 10 picks usually slot into the 30-50 range of prospects in all of MLB. Like I said he’s a really really good prospect. But this whole recent exchange was started around a comment about him getting MVP votes. He’s not the level of prospect (if there is one) where it makes sense to start talking about MVP votes before he’s even called up.
I have a golf trip planned for the beginning of May in Pennsylvania. If he breaks with the team or is called up before I get there I'm going to throw a Franklin on him. I usually piss away a hunge just maneuvering my way through the slots area to get to the book room. I will say one thing. If I bet on him, he is a guaranteed loser. I'm no bueno on futures bets. I only seem to do well playing let it ride.
At the end of the day, there is enough there to say his floor is pretty high and his ceiling is MVP votes like Tucker. Being an Astro fan, we know prospect rankings don't much other than trade value once they enter the system. I care more about what @Nook has heard about a prospect more than what is written on MLB's website. For every Correa, Tucker, and Bregman, there is an Altuve, Valdez, and Alvarez. Brown obviously thinks Cam has aircraft carrier potential.
Neither Bregman nor Correa were a top 3 prospect in the sport in their first full year of minor league baseball though, which is what this year would be for Cam Smith. This most likely won’t happen, but if Smith were to stay in the minors all year and had a great year then he could absolutely be looked at as the same type of prospect of at least Bregman (Correa’s age set him apart in my opinion). I looked on the mlb prospect list by year just as a reference. Correa first showed up at number 30 in 2013, was up to 8 in 2014 and number 3 in 2015. I could only find Bregman in 2016 at number 22. I know both players were at one point a top 3 prospect in baseball, but it wasn’t at the point that Cam Smith is in his career. So I absolutely think Smith could be that level of prospect.
The Astros have either been very good or lucky - depending on your view - because they have had a pretty high percentage of top prospects be successful in the big leagues, and most of the ones that failed were already struggling or underperforming in the minors before they made the big leagues.
I read on The Internet that ... Cristopfer Gonzalez will be an Astros All Star, a cross between Strawberry and De La Cruz. I will be very surprised if Cristopfer Gonzalez does not get his Astros MLB debut in 2025. Gonzalez should have a cake walk to Cooperstown.
I hope there's still room in front of Daikan Park for the Bagwell, Biggio, and Altuve statues, next to the mega-statue dedicated to Cristopfer Gonzalez, greatest of Astro legends.
Well it would be a tall but skinny statue, so shouldn't take up much space. Could probably just convert one of the existing light or flag poles to save money
Lucky is almost as good as good. All I know is that we are still favored to win our division even though we only have about 5 players from our 2019 squad and we didn't spend big in free agency at all. All those players came from our farm.
