How Astros are trying to fix Cam Smith: Outfielder sits out vs. Marlins to find rhythm in his swing 13%
By Matt Kawahara0%
7/23/2026, 12:25:09 AM
Topics: Baseball
BS Summary: This article contains 12 faulty reasoning types, including Fundamental Attribution Error, Confirmation Bias, and Overconfidence Bias, with Post Hoc (False Cause) as the most egregious example at 17.4% saturation with 93 hits. Analysis detected 501 faulty-reasoning hits from 536 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 29.6% and a BS Rank of 13% (19,114 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 87.30% of the article peer group.
Cam Smith was absent from the Houston Astros lineup for its entire series against Miami this week, a hiatus manager Joe Espada said was to give the right fielder time to work on his swing with the team’s hitting coaches.
Smith started 91 of Houston’s first 101 games in right field and before this series had not been held out of the lineup in back-to-back games.
Going into Wednesday, Smith was hitting .130 in July and in a 1-for-28 stretch that had lowered his season slash line to .210/.283/.362.
Before their series finale Wednesday against Miami, Smith was among a group of Astros taking early on-field batting practice at Daikin Park.
Hitting coach Victor Rodriguez said the main objective with Smith is “creating some rhythm” in his set-up before he begins his swing.
“Instead of staying still, create some kind of rhythm with the hands and with the body so he can get in a position to hit, instead of just sitting there and being stiff and going,” Rodriguez said.
Lately, the Astros noted Smith collapsing on his back leg when he began his swing, creating a suboptimal path to the ball, said Rodriguez.
He ascribed that to Smith being late on pitches and said they’ve worked the last few days on Smith “staying over” the ball against high velocity.
“When he’s on time and he has rhythm, then he gets into that position over the ball,” Rodriguez said.
“We’ve seen him hit balls hard all over the place and that’s what we want from him.
We don’t want him just to be a pull guy (but) able to drive the ball to all fields like he was doing early in the season.”
Smith’s pull rate has crept upward each month this season.
The second-year right fielder had his best month in June, slashing .231/.276/.462 with 10 extra-base hits over 91 at-bats.
His expected slugging percentage in July, based on contact quality, is his lowest in a month by over 100 points, per Statcast.
Smith’s average bat speed in July is his highest of any month this season, and his swing-and-miss rate is his lowest.
Rodriguez said he believes Smith is “making good swing decisions” but is “just not in a good position to do anything” with the pitches he attacks due to being late.
“If he continues to have good decisions but he has rhythm, he’s on time, then we’ll see him driving the ball all over the place,” Rodriguez said.
In the first two games against Miami, Smith entered as a late defensive replacement.
He took one plate appearance in them and drew a walk.
Espada indicated that Smith could return to the lineup when the Astros begin a series against the White Sox on Friday, after a team off-day.
“He’s been working on trying to hit the ball more in the air, trying to get his body in a better position to drive the ball,” Espada said.
“He’s hitting the ball hard but on the ground.
Trying to get more back-spin.
Hopefully we can make some adjustments and we’ll get him back in there.”
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