SAN FRANCISCO -- It was late Monday night when Casey Schmitt got the call he had been waiting for his whole life, but that still left plenty of time for his family members and friends to make it to Oracle Park.
Schmitt grew up in Chula Vista, a few miles from San Diego, and went to San Diego State. The Schmitt cheering section will include more than 40 people on Tuesday, with everyone hopping on flights earlier in the day. If all goes according to plan, they'll have plenty of opportunities to watch the 24-year-old later this season both in San Francisco and at Petco Park.
The Giants are hopeful Schmitt is here to stay, although that will be dictated by his play on the field, and mostly the quality of his at-bats. The initial plan is to give him a long runway to show what he can do after a breakout 2022 season, strong spring and good month-plus in Triple-A.
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Manager Gabe Kapler said the staff sees "ample opportunity" to get Schmitt consistent playing time. That hasn't always been the case with call-ups, most notably last year with Heliot Ramos, who like Schmitt was brought up initially to face a lefty.
"We always say we can't really see the future and nothing is set in stone, but Casey is here to play for us," Kapler said. "He's here to help the Giants win and continue his development."
The Giants are hopeful that Schmitt can give them a different dimension, which is needed for a lineup that's been awfully homer-dependent at times and leads the majors in strikeouts. Schmitt immediately becomes one of the roster's fastest players, and he has shown a consistent ability to put the ball in play.
San Francisco Giants
While Schmitt is known as glove-first, Giants officials have long spoken of his elite hand-eye coordination, which led to a .293 average last year and a .313 average in Triple-A this season. Schmitt's strikeout-to-walk ratio has been high, but he's trending in the right direction. In his last 10 Triple-A games, he had five strikeouts and five walks.
"It's just being more patient and not trying to hit everything like I was trying to do," he said, smiling.
It's hard to blame Schmitt for his aggression. His glove was big league-ready long before he arrived at big league camp for the first time this spring. All of the base hits in March, plus the defensive skills, won him the Barney Nugent Award, given to the player who is most impressive in his first big league camp.
As the Giants headed back to the Bay Area at the end of March, they brought Schmitt with them. They had initially had him play some shortstop in camp to see if it would be an option this year, and he was so smooth that the staff became convinced he might be the best fill-in for Brandon Crawford if the team's longest-tenured player missed significant time. Now, the two are likely to coexist.
Crawford could return from the IL as soon as Thursday in Arizona, which will lead to an interesting roster conversation. It certainly stood out that Schmitt started playing second base last week as David Villar's slump deepened, but Kapler spoke glowingly of Villar last week and again on Tuesday.
Still, that may be an avenue for Schmitt, who is elite defensively at third and quickly picking up the intricacies of short and second. On paper, he's a perfect fit for a pitching staff that relies on ground balls.
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"I think that he's got all the skills necessary to be a good second baseman at the Major League level," Kapler said. "I'll say the same thing about shortstop. Because we all have so much exposure to Casey's play at third base, there's endless comfort there. There's no question there's going to be bumps and bruises at shortstop, there's going to be bumps and bruises at second base as well.
"From an athleticism and a skill perspective, he can handle getting through those bumps and bruises because he's athletic enough and gifted enough defensively that he's going to be able to navigate those, and we're going to help him along the way."