Astros Rookie Is Heating Up Following Tough Start To His Career

The Houston Astros are in the process of turning things around following what was a rough start to the season, and they are now on the cusp of taking back over the top of the American League West.

Over the first month or so, inconsistencies both from the offense and the pitching staff put this team into a bit of a hole, and while things are far from perfect, there have been some real positive signs as of late.

One of those has been the development of rookie sensation Cam Smith.

Cam Smith Has Looked Like a Star for Astros in May

Promoting Smith to the big leagues following his spring training breakout was a bit of a controversial decision at the time given the fact he had played just five games at the Double-A level.

Almost a month into the season, it was looking like that may have been the wrong call, as Smith struggled mightily to gain his footing.

Following a rough one-hit series on the road against the St. Louis Cardinals in the middle of April, Smith's slash line had dropped to a paltry .200/.280/.311.

Two days later, though, he clobbered two home runs in the series opener against the San Diego Padres, a series the Astros went on to win.

In May, the rookie has begun to emerge as a legitimate star.

Over the previous 30 days, which have encompassed 20 games for Smith, he is slashing an impressive .324/.385/.423 and has collected 23 hits.

The last two weeks have been even more impressive with a slash line of .375/.412/.500 with 18 hits in 13 games.

For a minute early on, it looked like Houston made an extremely questionable decision by rushing Smith to the big leagues.

Instead of panicking and sending him back down, though, they stuck the course and let their young player start to figure it out on his own.

That decision has paid off, and still at just 22 years old, Smith is only going to get better from here.

Over the rest of his rookie year from here on out, if the youngster keeps getting better, he is not just going to keep establishing himself as a future superstar, he's also going to help his ball club win a ton of games moving forward this season and beyond.

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