Although more established Chicago Cubs prospects are going to get the bulk of the after-season attention for the big years they had, I still think about how incredible Cam Smith’s pro debut was.
The 21-year-old Florida State third baseman, who played in just two collegiate seasons and then was taken 14th overall by the Cubs, hit a whopping .313/.396/.609/179 wRC+ in his debut, spread across 134 plate appearances from Low-A to High-A to Double-A. Like Matt Shaw the year before, a professional debut just can’t go much better.
Indeed, Smith’s debut was just about as good as anyone taken ahead of him in the draft!
Consider the following college bats who were taken ahead of Smith:
Travis Bazzana, 22, drafted 1st overall: .238/.369/.396/126 wRC+ over 122 PAs games at High-A
Charlie Condon, 21, drafted 3rd overall: .180/.248/.270/48 wRC+ over 109 PAs at High-A
Nick Kurtz, 21, drafted 4th overall: .368/.520/.763/230 wRC+ over 50 PAs at Low-A and Double-A
Jac Caglianone, 21, drafted 6th overall: .241/.302/.388/96 wRC+ over 126 PAs at High-A
JJ Wetherholt, 22, drafted 7th overall: .295/.405/.400/137 wRC+ over 126 PAs at Low-A
Christian Moore, 21, drafted 8th overall: .347/.400/.584/184 wRC+ over 110 PAs at Low-A and Double-A
Seaver King, 21, drafted 10th overall: .295/.367/.385/122 wRC+ over 90 PAs at Low-A
Braden Montgomery, 21, drafted 12th overall: did not play
James Tibbs III, 22, drafted 13th overall: .241/.293/.343/75 wRC+ over 116 PAs at Low-A and High-A.
As you can see, just two on the list had performances that came close to what Smith did. Though I would suggest that Kurtz’s performance, being in just 50 plate appearances (in high-offense environments), should be discounted a bit. I’d definitely take Smith’s debut over Kurtz’s, in terms of how encouraging it was or was not for a prospect.
As for Moore, his numbers do look more impressive than Smith’s, though I would note he did it in fewer plate appearances and all of the results came in his first 10 days (he actually kinda stunk over his final month). Still, I think you do have to give the nod to Moore, especially since he played almost all of his games at Double-A, while Smith reached Double-A only for the final week and the postseason. (Fun: whollllle lotta rumors tying the Cubs to Moore if he’d fallen past the top ten, so maybe the Cubs just had a really good sense of these two bats!)
Wherever you place Smith in the performance rankings there, he’s clearly near the top if not at it. And he was 10TH COLLEGE BAT taken in the draft. Kudos to him for the incredible performance, and to the Cubs for landing him.
At the end of the regular season, after his Double-A Tennessee Smokies came up short in the playoffs, Cam Smith got a chance to come to Wrigley Field for a tour and, I’m sure, some additional praise for his debut: