:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72263303/1247856360.0.jpg "San Francisco Giants name up prospect Casey Schmitt")
Darin Ruf was DFA’d and Cal Stevenson was optioned.
Well well well. The San Francisco Giants’ season just got a lot more interesting. On Tuesday morning, the team announced it was calling one of the most exciting prospects in the organization, infielder Casey Schmitt. Schmitt will be on the roster for tonight’s game against the Washington Nationals, and if he does play it will be his MLB debut.
After breaking out in 2022, Schmitt quickly became one of the top-rated prospects in the Giants organization. According to Baseball America and our community rankings, he was ranked #3 on the system while MLB Pipeline had him at #4.
Schmitt’s debut is easily the most aggressive the Giants’ current single-view braintrust has had. He started in High-A last year where he thoroughly dominated, hitting .273/.363/.474 with a 132 wRC+ and his usual defensive magic. That earned him promotion to AA mid-late season where the numbers got even better: .348/.378/.517 with 144 wRC+. After the AA season ended, he traded with AAA Sacramento for the final four games of the season and was later announced as the winner of the minor league baseball Gold Glove at third base.
He started this year in AAA where he has played 32 games. So in total he only played 36 AAA games and 29 AA games. That’s a fast-moving prospect!
His offense has not been spectacular this season. His .313/.352/.410 slash line looks good in vacuum, but in the Pacific Coast League offensive environment it’s only good for an 83 wRC+, meaning he hit about 83% as well as the average player in the league.
But he’s shown good shot-to-ball skills and really improved his strikeouts with a K-Rate of just 19.3%. He’s also demonstrated defensive versatility, which the Giants love. A year after winning the gold glove at Hot Corner, Schmitt has played – and played very well – many innings at shortstop and second base. The Giants are certainly comfortable playing him in all three positions, which is great considering A) JD Davis has become a Gold Glove candidate in third place and B) Brandon Crawford is still in the list of injuries.
To make room on the list for Schmitt, the Giants made two moves that confuse me a little. To make room for him on the active roster, they selected center fielder Cal Stevenson. With the option of an outfielder, the Giants now have five right-handed infielders on the roster as Schmitt joins Davis, Thairo Estrada, Wilmer Flores and David Villar. I assumed Villar, who is struggling, doesn’t play regularly and has options, would be the one to leave.
And to make room for him on the 40-man roster, the Giants designated Darin reputation for the assignment. Ruf hit the ball fairly well before suffering his injury, which he rehabilitated and was ready to return. I assumed Stevenson or Matt Beaty or maybe Isan Díaz would be the name to leave the 40 man but show you what I know!
Schmitt is only the second player (Cole Waites is the other) the current front office has drafted for his MLB debut. He was a second-round pick in a 2020 draft class that’s looking better by the day. This year’s first-round and third-round picks, Patrick Bailey and Kyle Harrison, respectively, are also expected to debut this season. And fourth-round pick RJ Dabovich could be, too.
The Giants have made it clear that they will not call on prospects like Schmitt out of necessity or fill a gap in the roster. If they call them, it’s because they believe the player is ready to become a major league regular. So don’t expect Schmitt to get an option when Crawford comes from the IL.
He’s here to stay and now let’s see what he can do with this opportunity.
Welcome to the big show, Casey.
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