Astros' Kyle Tucker return is doing his best to fill the Alex Bregman void in Houston

To say that Houston Astros prospect Cam Smith has some big shoes to fill would be a colossal understatement. It's not just that he was acquired this winter from the Chicago Cubs as the centerpiece of the return for star outfielder Kyle Tucker; trying to make good on a team's decision to cut bait rather than pay to keep an MVP candidate would be bad enough. But Smith just so happens to play third base, where the Astros said goodbye to franchise icon Alex Bregman over the offseason.

if Smith doesn't pan out, it won't just represent a massive missed opportunity to get something in return for the decision to let Tucker go. It would be a whiff that Houston would feel for years to come, on the field and off. Of course, as the 14th overall pick in last year's MLB Draft, Smith comes with plenty of prospect pedigree to get excited about. The Astros chose him for a reason, and it hasn't taken him long this spring to make that look like a very wise decision.

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Cam Smith is trying to make Astros fans forget all about Kyle Tucker — and Alex Bregman

Smith is now Houston's No. 1 prospect, and while he's unlikely to unseat Isaac Paredes and earn a spot on the Opening Day roster just yet — he played just five games at Double-A in his first taste of pro ball last summer — he still has a lot to prove in his first Astros camp. And he wasted no time doing just that on Tuesday afternoon, getting the partied started with a homer to right-center in the sixth inning against the New York Mets.

But he was hardly done. In his very next at-bat, he went yard again, again to right-center.

That's exactly the sort of easy, all-fields power that Houston hoped it was acquiring when it acquired him this winter. His physical tools have never been in question; at 6-foot-3, 224 pounds, he's built like a linebacker. But if he can start consistently getting the ball in the air like this, he could really take off, just like he did down the stretch in the Minors last year.

None of that will ease the pain of losing both Tucker and Bregman in one offseason. But Smith has a sky-high ceiling if everything clicks, which he put on display on Tuesday. And if that comes to pass, it sure will help to usher in a new era of Astros baseball.