The Houston Astros organization made the interesting decision to move veteran Jose Altuve to the outfield this spring. Altuve has only played second base for Houston over the last 14 seasons. With a recent decline in defensive performance, Houston decided maybe the outfield would be a better place for him.
So far, the Altuve experiment has not exactly gone as planned. After committing a number of both fielding and throwing errors from left field, Altuve is finding just how difficult it is to play the outfield at a major league level. With less than a week before Opening Day, the Astros will have to make a decision on their roster soon and it is starting to sound like they are about to make a big mistake.
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Jose Altuve struggles forcing Houston Astros to consider promoting Cam Smith
Even this close to Opening Day there is a trio of question marks for the Houston Astros. Third base, second base and left field are still positions that have not been officially filled. With Alex Bregman's departure and Altuve not doing as well in left field as anticipated, things have become a little more complicated.
As of now, Mauricio Dubon is expected to play second, Isaac Paredes at third and Jose Altuve in left. However, another name has entered the conversation with an impressive spring and that would be Houston's top prospect, Cam Smith.
Smith was drafted by the Astros in 2024 in the first round. The 14th overall pick has experience playing both third base and left field. Additionally, his power is turning heads this spring, making some people claim he has the potential to post a 60-homer season someday. Manager Joe Espada has hinted that Smith could actually make his way onto the Opening Day roster.
While Smith undoubtedly has the potential to be successful in the big leagues one day, it would be a major mistake to plug him into the MLB less than a week from now. Smith has only played a handful of minor league games and the highest level he has seen is AA for five games.
If the Astros choose to put Smith on their Opening Day roster, it very well could result in a Jackson Holliday situation where a prospect with really high expectations goes through a lot of failure, resulting in more added pressure.
Either Altuve needs to figure out the outfield puzzle or Espada should look at other big league players who could play the outfield rather than trying to rely on a 22-year-old kid who has zero big league experience to solve the team's problems.