Prospect is going to make the Astros Opening Day roster as their right fielder, reports . The youngster isnt yet on the 40-man roster and they will need a spot for him, as well as and . They have two openings already and several candidates for the 60-day injured list, meaning they shouldnt have trouble finding room for all those guys. Its been an incredible whirlwind for Smith, who was a student at Florida State a year ago. In July, the Cubs selected him with the 14th overall pick in the draft and signed him to a $5,070,700 bonus. The Cubs put the young third baseman to work right away, getting him into 15 Single-A games, 12 at High-A and five at Double-A. He walked in 11.2% of his plate appearances and was only struck out at a 17.9% clip. He launched seven home runs in 134 plate appearances and had a combined .313/.396/.609 batting line. That made him one of the top prospects in baseball going into 2025. The Cubs went into the winter with a loaded farm system but a big league roster that had struggled to push beyond the mushy middle, finishing at 83-79 in each of the past two years. They were looking for a big splash and the Astros were reportedly open to moving . Hes a tremendous player but was slated for free agency after 2025, with Houston seemingly having no hope of getting an extension done. The Astros also had a preference to avoid the competitive balance tax this year. The Cubs, as mentioned, had a very strong farm system. That included a couple of infield guys who were viewed as ahead of Smith. and are both on many top 100 prospect lists and each of them reached the Triple-A level in 2024. All those stars aligned to make the trade happen. The Astros sent Tucker to Wrigley in exchange for third baseman , pitcher and Smith. From the Cubs perspective, they were giving up a lot in the long term in order to make a big upgrade in 2025. Smith, as a prospect, was obviously a long play. Paredes still had three years of club control and would be an affordable replacement for Bregman at third base. Wesneski, with five years of club control, gave the club some affordable rotation depth. Arguably, the Astros were making themselves worse in the short term, in order to save some money and come out ahead in the long run. Bregman and Tucker were two big lo ses. Parades could make up for some of Bregmans production but likely not all. The outfield looked clearly worse on paper when compared to last year, especially with slated to spend more time as the designated hitter. But beyond 2025, they werent going to have Tucker anyway. Now they would have Paredes, Wesneski and Smiths contributions. The short-term picture has changed a lot since camp opened. Smith put up a ma sive line of .342/.419/.711 in Grapefruit Eric Bledsoe Jersey League action. As he started building those impre sive numbers, there were whispers that the club wanted to get him work in right field, with Paredes blocking Smiths natural third base position. It seems he has impre sed the decision-makers enough to get the Opening Day nod, despite his very limited profe sional track record of just 32 profe sional games, none at the Triple-A level. The outfield picture also changed in another way. , who has been Houstons second baseman for over a decade, is now going to be the left fielder. His glovework at the keystone was never great but has declined significantly as he has pushed into his mid-30s. Overall, its a fascinating gambit for the Astros. Moving Alvarez out of left field makes sense, given all the health scares he has had over the years. Trading Tucker was also risky in its own way. Now they seem likely to feature a regular outfield mix of in center, flanked by Altuve and Smith. Meyers hasnt hit much in his career but is a strong defender. That glovework figures to be important, as hell be flanked by two converted infielders with no real experience on the gra s. The Altuve/Smith combo seems to have a good chance of outhitting a corner mix of and , which seemed like a po sible Opening Day alignment as recently as a few weeks ago. Then again, even the best prospects often struggle when first promoted to the majors, so there are no guarantees Smith will immediately flourish. Still, its understandable bet on a higher ceiling. If Smith does thrive, that would obviously help the club in 2025 but it could also benefit the Astros in another way. The current collective bargaining agreement added measures to discourage service time manipulation. One of those prospect promotion incentives is that clubs can receive an extra draft pick just after the first round under certain conditions. If a player is on two of the three top 100 lists from Baseball America, ESPN or MLB.com, they are PPI eligible if their club promotes them early enough in the season to earn a full service year. If such a player wins Rookie of the Year or finish top three in MVP or Cy Young voting in their pre-arbitration years, the club earns an extra pick. Smith is ranked 55th overall at BA, 73rd at ESPN and 59th at MLB.com and is therefore eligible. Turning to a few other roster decisions for the Astros, will get a bench spot but will not, per of . Hummel is out of options, so he should be designated for a signment or traded in the coming days. Hummel has an awful .159/.255/.275 batting line in the majors but has been much better in the minors and has interesting defensive versatility. He has a .285/.419/.480 line over the past four minor league seasons and hit .316/.435/.447 in camp this year. Defensively, hes an option at all four corner spots. He didnt play behind the plate in 2024 but did in previous seasons. That could make him attractive to other clubs but he cleared waivers in April of 2024 when he still had an option remaining. One final bench spot will come down to or , manager Joe Espada tells . Both players were signed to minor league deals, so that will be another 40-man spot the team will need to open. But as mentioned, they have lots of 60-day IL candidates and should be fine there. Images courtesy of Reinhold Matay, Imagn Images Josh Hart Jersey