Photo courtesy: FSU Twitter
Photo courtesy: FSU Twitter

Cubs pick FSU third baseman Cam Smith with No. 14 overall pick


by - Senior Editor -

More infield talent is coming to the Northsiders.

The Chicago Cubs selected Florida State third baseman Cam Smith with the No. 14 overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft on Sunday night.

Smith led FSU with a .387 batting average and had 39 extra-base hits (104 hits total), including 16 homers and 57 RBI. He also had an impressive 1.142 OPS.

His .387 average was the highest in Florida State history since Tyler Holt hit .401 in 2009.

He earned second-team All-ACC honors for putting up these offensive numbers.

At one point this past season, the 21-year-old standout had a 56-game on-base streak that ended in May.

During his freshman season at FSU, he hit 12 homers and was named to the ACC All-Freshman team.

MLB’s Theo DeRosa called Smith “the best true third baseman” in this year’s class. He is already used to wood bats as he played last summer in the Cape Cod League where he hit .347 with six homers and a .981 OPS.

This is the second straight season that the Cubs used their first-round pick for an infielder (Matt Shaw).

During his senior year of high school, Smith hit .435 with 32 RBI in 2022.

MLB Pipeline had the following scouting information about Smith:

“At 6-foot-3, 220 pounds, Smith already looks the part with plenty of now strength. How much he hits will help dictate how consistently he can get to his plus raw power, and he’s answered that question well last summer and this spring. He struggled to stick to an approach and have quality at-bats during his freshman year, often chasing pitches out of the zone, but that was vastly improved on the Cape, with his miss rate dropping from 29 percent to 19 over the summer. It’s a trend that’s continued in 2024 as Smith continued keep the swing-and-miss to a minimum.

Smith runs better than he did in high school and has the chance to be a very good third baseman, with a strong arm, at the next level. His ability to duplicate, and even surpass, what he did on the Cape during his sophomore campaign in Tallahassee has allowed him to be the kind of college performer who is rising up boards.”

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