{"id":668477,"date":"2026-04-07T14:16:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T14:16:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/668477\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T14:16:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T14:16:17","slug":"astros-infielder-stamps-name-into-franchise-history-with-latest-homer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/668477\/","title":{"rendered":"Astros Infielder Stamps Name Into Franchise History with Latest Homer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6g\">The Houston Astros have been off to a hot start this season, and many of their younger stars have much to do with this success. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6j\">They continue to stand atop the American League West standings, and their latest <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/astros\/onsi\/astros-right-hander-earns-nod-make-first-career-start-against-rockies-\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">performance against the Colorado Rockies<\/a> was just one more step in the right direction for the ballclub that seemed to struggle endlessly last year. Is their 2026 campaign going to be a turning point for the franchise?<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6m\">Of course, this hasn&#8217;t been a seamless start to the regular season\u2014obstacles have risen to the surface. But overall, things are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/astros\/onsi\/news\/dont-count-houston-astros-out-from-trading-outfielder\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">looking promising thus far<\/a>. This is especially true when taking into account their young infielder, who is now navigating his second year playing in the Major Leagues. On Monday, he stunned fans with a shocking hit to center field.<\/p>\n<p>Cam Smith Smacks 462-Foot Homer<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/01knjtb1bbxzsav1sjpz.jpg\" alt=\"Houston Astros Cam Smith holding a baseball bat\" title=\"Houston Astros Cam Smith holding a baseball bat\" width=\"1971\" height=\"1108\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"6z\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Houston Astros right fielder Cam Smith | Thomas Shea-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"73\">While facing the Rockies on Monday, 23-year-old Smith sent a jaw-dropping 462-foot home run to center field off a pitch tossed by Ryan Feltner in the top of the fourth. At the time of this writing, he is slashing .286\/.405\/.571 with a .976 OPS and three homers through 11 games.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"76\">As reported by Chandler Rome of The Athletic (subscription required), this homer was the longest of the regular season so far. To make matters more impressive, this was the ninth-longest home run smacked by a Houston player since 2008.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Cam Smith&#8217;s 462-foot home run is the longest one hit in MLB this season. It is the ninth-longest home run hit by an Astros player since Statcast began tracking in 2008. Here are the eight longer ones. Jake Marisnick! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/z6bXY9aKTG\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/z6bXY9aKTG<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Chandler Rome (@Chandler_Rome) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Chandler_Rome\/status\/2041328612973088852?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">April 7, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7c\">As the Astros continue working their way through their set at Coors Field, fans should expect to see some sputtering on the mound and potentially at the plate. But for Smith, if he can keep driving up the momentum, he will make quite a name for himself early on.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7f\">Following their series in Denver, they will hit the road and head to Washington state to face the Seattle Mariners for four games before taking on the Rockies yet again, this time at Daikin Park in Houston.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-blue my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"7i\">Although at first glance, it seems like the Astros should be able to dominate Colorado, pitching at Coors Field is no easy feat\u2014it&#8217;s acquired a dreadful reputation. Houston must continue driving up the momentum if they want to come out on top, and Smith could be the first step in doing so. He is incredibly young and inexperienced compared to the veteran stars, but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/mlb\/astros\/onsi\/news\/where-astros-cam-smith-ranks-right-fielders\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">he is not without raw talent<\/a> or skill. At this rate, he could be well on his way to a spectacular season.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Houston Astros have been off to a hot start this season, and many of their younger stars&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":668478,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2389],"tags":[42,5,139,54,3211,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-668477","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-astros","8":"tag-astros","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-houston","11":"tag-houston-astros","12":"tag-houstonastros","13":"tag-mlb"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116363853831454135","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=668477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/668477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/668478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=668477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=668477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=668477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}