The Chicago Cubs recently had an 11th player make a top-100 prospects list as 2024 first round draft pick Cam Smith was rated among the elite up-and-comers in baseball on MLB Pipeline's updated rankings.
The 21-year-old third baseman was recently promoted to Double-A after obliterating pitching with the Myrtle Beach Pelicans and South Bend Cubs in A-Ball. Smith became the seventh current Cubs prospect in MLB Pipeline's top-100 list following the graduation of Junior Caminero, who has now played in 36 games with the Tampa Bay Rays.
Smith, who was taken 14th overall out of Florida State, is No. 100 on MLB Pipeline's top prospects list.
The right-handed slugger set a home run streak at Myrtle Beach, was bumped up to the Midwest League at South Bend and if you look through his game log Smith has not stopped hitting since Aug. 17.
Smith made his debut at Double-A on Tuesday and tripled in his first game with the Tennessee Smokies. He followed that up with another triple in a two-hit performance the next night.
Two games with @smokiesbaseball, two triples for Cam Smith!
— Minor League Baseball (@MiLB) September 11, 2024
The @Cubs' 2024 first-rounder comes home on an error, giving him a Little League homer.
(Good with @MLBDevelops. Good with @FSUBaseball. Probably very good in Little League too!) pic.twitter.com/pltyiIxgDV
Going back to Aug. 17, Smith has a slash line of .368/.447/.724, good for a 221 wRC+ and 1.171 OPS in 23 games. The power-hitting infielder has 7 home runs, 4 doubles and 3 triples, with 23 RBI and 17 runs scored in the past four weeks.
However, ever since Smith got on his hot streak with Myrtle Beach, the most impressive thing about his stat sheet might just be his discipline at the plate. Overall in 30 games, Smith has a strikeout rate of 18.3% and a walk rate of 11.9%. That's 23 strikeouts to 15 walks in 126 plate appearances to begin his minor league career.
Here are the current Cubs prospects in the top-100 for MLB Pipeline.
Matt Shaw: No. 22
Cade Horton: No. 28
Owen Caissie: No. 33
Moises Ballesteros: No. 41
James Triantos: No. 56
Kevin Alcantara: No. 69
Cam Smith: No. 100
Meanwhile, there have been four other Cubs players that have appeared in a top-100 prospect list at some point in 2024. Pete Crow-Armstrong began as the team's top-rated prospect to begin the year, while Michael Busch was also a top-100 prospect entering the regular season.
Left-handed pitcher Jordan Wicks was ranked in the top-50 in two separate lists (ESPN and Fangraphs) and shortstop Jefferson Rojas was also in MLB Pipeline's top-100 earlier in this year.
This is the first time Smith has cracked one of these lists, but it certainly won't be the last. If he plays in the Arizona Fall League and continues to excel against other top talent among minor leaguers, then Smith will be a consensus top-100 prospect to begin the 2025 season.
