Astros have 78 mph reason to believe Cam Smith's breakout is for real originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Houston Astros season so far has been a total nightmare. Things aren't going well at all, and if it weren't for the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies, there might be more national attention on the Astros.
But, despite how bad things are this season, the return of Yordan Alvarez as one of the game's best hitters has been some great news. He's not the only one turning in a great year so far, as Cam Smith is breaking out as well.
The question now is whether this breakout is for real or not. But, as ESPN's Kiely McDaniel pointed out, there is reason to believe that Smith's breakout is for real with a 78 mph reason to have such a belief.
"78 mph. That's Cam Smith's bat speed," McDaniel writes. "... But there's more than meets the eye there, as his bat speed has spiked 3.5 mph, taking him from 36th in baseball last season in bat speed to fourth this season."
Being able to swing the bat this fast is a good thing, but only if the player can actually make contact with the ball. And fortunately for Smith's, that's exactly what's happening.
"He isn't just swinging more wildly. His contact rates are up, his wing rate is down, and his attack angle is more geared for power, so there's lots of runway for his stats to improve from here," McDaniel writes.
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This season, Smith is batting .250 with three home runs and 11 RBIs to go with a .753 OPS. Those aren't elite numbers by any means, as they all rank no higher than 62nd overall in MLB this season.
But, as McDaniel highlighted, there's still plenty of room for growth this season, as his underlying metrics favor Smith continuing his breakout this season.
And while it's not a factor of his bat speed increasing, Smith has already stolen four bases compared to his eight last season. He's played 25 games this season compared to 134 last year.
Smith's breakout this year is very exciting, and the 78 mph bat speed is reason to believe that he will continue to be productive this year. He's also the "21st most unlucky hitter" in MLB this season, so there's even more room for improvement for Smith.
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