This story was excerpted from Brian McTaggart’s Astros Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
HOUSTON -- Astros outfielder Cam Smith got to share the biggest moment of his life with his mother, Stephanie Hocza, in a moment that played out before the country in March. It happened in the Astros’ clubhouse at Daikin Park before the start of the regular season and became a viral video of a special moment between a supportive mother and a son chasing a dream.
When Astros manager Joe Espada informed Smith he had made the Opening Day roster after a bang-up performance in Spring Training, Espada pulled his phone out and made a call to have someone come out to make the special announcement. Hocza emerged from behind a wall, and Smith cried as they embraced. You could have heard a pin drop in the clubhouse.
“It was probably the most special moment I’m ever going to feel in my life,” Smith said. “I’m glad we got to experience that together because she always wanted to be here.”
Hocza raised Smith in Florida as a single mother and was the one responsible for taking him to games and practices as a kid. She knew her son had a dream and sacrificed whatever she could to make sure it happened. It was only fitting she was the one to give him the news when he made the Astros out of camp.
“I just thank her, honestly, for believing in me and continuing to allow me to play baseball,” he said. “I wasn’t the best on my team always. I struggled a lot as a young kid, but she just hung in there. She just knew what I wanted to do and she allowed me to keep joining new teams and keep playing ball. It’s very special.”
Hocza still shows up to games as much as she can. She’s a computer data processor at Palm Beach Central High School, where Smith played baseball before attending Florida State. He was drafted by the Cubs last year and traded to the Astros in December as part of the Kyle Tucker trade. Entering the season, he was ranked as Houston’s No. 1 prospect, according to MLB Pipeline.
“She shows up to games as much as she can,” Smith said. “She works a ton, but she always finds her way out to whatever city I’m in, wherever I’m playing. She always makes time to come see me play in person because she knows that means a lot to me.”
Among the life lessons Hocza has imparted on her son is to not get too high or too low. That resonates on the baseball field, as well.
“I think she taught me that growing up,” Smith said. “Just kind of staying in the middle, especially in the game of baseball. There’s a ton of failure, so don’t get in too much of a hole or too high on the mountain.”
Smith made his Major League debut as Houston’s starting right fielder on Opening Day despite having played in only 32 games in the Minor Leagues. He’s been challenged in the big leagues more than he has at any point in his baseball. Smith was slashing .212/.302/.365 entering Friday with three homers and 10 RBIs for the Astros but has shown flashes of star potential.
With each day he puts on a Major League uniform and takes the field, he remembers the advice his mother gave him and the sacrifices she made so he could live his dream.
“I knew it was hard on her,” he said. “I’m not sure what she had to deal with because she made it seem like life was still sweet. I don’t know how she did it. She made it seem like everything was sweet when she was going through times like that.”
