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San Francisco Giants' Gabe Kapler Praises Rookie Casey Schmitt

Originally posted on FanNation Fastball | By Brady Farkas | Last updated 5/25/23

The San Francisco Giants are still one game under .500, but they've won seven of their last 10 games to get back to relevance.

At 24-25, they are just 0.5 games out of the final wild card spot in the National League through 49 games.

Part of the reason for the Giants improved play of late? The play of rookie infielder Casey Schmitt, according to manager Gabe Kapler.

Kapler was on SiriusXM's MLB Network Radio on Thursday and talked up the play of the youngster. You can hear his full comments below but here is a partial transcript:

"We have to mention Casey Schmitt's arrival at the big league level and how well he's performed so far, on both sides of the ball. Obviously, he's coming up with some big hits for us but he's really stabilized our defense..."

At the plate, he's hitting .328 with two home runs and 10 RBI in 58 at-bats.

The 24-year-old was a second-round pick in the 2020 draft out of San Diego State. He's currently the fourth-ranked prospect in the Giants system.

From his MLB.com profile:

After a broken nose and left wrist injury marred his 2021 pro debut, he hit .293/.365/.489 with 21 homers while advancing to Triple-A last year.

Schmitt showed more power with wood bats than metal bats as an amateur, and he began hitting balls harder and driving them more consistently in 2022. He showed a quicker right-handed swing than in the past and tapped into his solid raw power more easily by not swinging for the fences. He crushes fastballs but still has to prove he can handle quality offspeed pitches at the upper levels.

Though he's a below-average runner out of the batter's box, Schmitt moves well at third base and is a potential Gold Glover. He has range to both sides, reliable hands and a strong arm that produced fastballs up to 96 mph and some devastating mid-80s splitters when he closed games in college. His defensive tools translated into solid shortstop play when the Giants needed him to take over for an injured Marco Luciano at High-A Eugene last year.

The Giants are taking on the Brewers on Thursday night at 7:40 p.m. ET.

This article first appeared on FanNation Fastball and was syndicated with permission.

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