Cubs prospect Cam Smith has put himself on the map with an incredible summer
Cam Smith has not even been in professional baseball for two months and he’s already making a name for himself as a prospect to watch in the Cubs system.
The organization’s 1st-round pick (14th overall) has made a big splash since being drafted in July.
And now it appears he’s on his way to Double-A Tennessee:
The promotion makes sense, as Advanced Class-A South Bend ended its season on Sunday, while the Smokies have 6 regular season games remaining and then at least one playoff series.
Smith signed with the Cubs shortly after the draft and played 15 games with Class-A Myrtle Beach. He homered in 6 straight games and posted a 1.174 OPS, receiving a quick promotion to Advanced Class-A South Bend.
After just 12 games in South Bend (in which he hit .333/.421/.500 with 1 homer and 9 RBI), Smith is now moving up again.
On Cubs Live! Monday evening, MLB Pipeline senior writer Jim Callis explained why the 21-year-old Smith has become a player to watch in the Cubs system.
“It’s all been a small sample size but the first steps we’ve seen him take in pro ball have been really encouraging,” Callis said. “The biggest question with Cam Smith was – he’s strong, he hits the ball hard but he hits the ball on the ground a lot. He had a 55% groundball rate at Florida State.
“Well in Single-A, he breaks into pro ball and he’s down to 29% and he homered in 6 straight games. If he hits the ball in the air consistently, he’s an easy 30 home run guy. There’s some hitability in there, he’s a solid defender. We’ll get to see his first taste of Double-A pitching.”
Lance Brozdowski, Marquee Sports Network’s player development analyst, picked 22-year-old pitcher Will Sanders as a player to watch in the Cubs system.
Sanders was a 4th-round pick last year and has racked up 105 strikeouts in 92.2 innings for South Bend this season.