Working The Waiver Wire: June 20th

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  • By Jeff Clowers

    Last Updated on June 20, 2025 12:04 pm by Paul Williamson | Published: June 20, 2025

    The proverbial roller coaster never stops during baseball season. Players who started off the year as some of the hottest names in the game have now had the time to go from mid-round draft pick, to waiver-wire droppable, all the way back to a hot commodity for your FAAB-spending. The first name below follows that path to a tee, while our second is currently on the up-swing to a new peak.

    Finally, I go back to the well on a favorite strategy of mine – prospect stashing – and end things with the suggestion of a currently suspended outfielder.

    Off we go!

    Cam Smith – 3B/OF – HOU – 31% Yahoo, 64% CBS

    Last 14 Days: .354/.392/.583 – 2HR/1SB – .420 wOBA – .229 ISO – 177 wRC+

    Post Kyle-Tucker trade, Smith was a popular sleeper pick entering draft season after tearing up Spring Training to the tune of a 190 wRC+. As oft happens for players of all ages – but especially rookies – that hot streak ended once Opening Day was upon us and the competition level jumped several notches higher. The result was a less than inspiring debut month for the Astros right fielder, in which he carried just a .679 OPS with a 29.4% strikeout rate – although he did manage to connect on three home runs.

    However, since the calendar flipped from April, Smith has shown steady improvement each month. In May, he carried a slashline of .307/.388/.400 and dropped his strikeout rate to a more manageable rate of 25.9%. And so far through June, he’s shaved off another 0.4% from his strikeouts while batting .321/.345/.528 and is coming off six game hit streak (broken last night), including a pair of games with 3+ hits, and has now safely hit in 14 of his last 17games.

    Though he has been on the fortunate end of some extremely elevated BABIPs the past two months, his 27.5% line-drive rate for the season is strong enough to keep it within range of its current level without the bottom suddenly dropping out. The red flag potential comes more in the form of plate discipline, where Smith is currently riding a 22nd-percentile whiff rate and 16th-percentile strikeout rate. But while he does miss the ball a fair bit still, when he’s able to connect, he does so with power, hitting a ball hard 47.9% of the time (78th-percentile).

    Between his pedigree (14th overall pick; Top 100 prospect) and increasingly impressive performance, now is a great time to get back on board with Cam Smith if a manager in your league has left him to languish on the wire after his cold start.

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    June 20, 2025, 12:04 pm