Farhan Zaidi: SF Giants prospect Casey Schmitt is 'close' to MLB ready
SF Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi joined a broadcast with Dave Flemming and Shawn Estes on Thursday and talked about some of the biggest storylines from spring training. At one point, he highlighted several standouts, including Casey Schmitt (the Giants third-best prospect). Flemming asked Zaidi how close Schmitt was to the majors, and the head of Giants baseball operations said he thinks Schmitt is on the cusp of a callup, but did hint that he has struggled with breaking balls from right-handed pitching.
A Brewers runner dodges a tag by SF Giants third baseman Casey Schmitt in the third inning during a Spring Training game at Scottsdale Stadium. (2023)
Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports
"Absolutely, he looks really close," Zaidi said about Schmitt. "The one thing we'd still like to see him work on a little bit is, you know when you're facing those quality right-handed pitchers in the big leagues, you see the breaking balls. Yesterday he faced Jonathan Gray, whose a really good big leaguer who has a couple of different looks to his breaking balls. I think getting acclimated to that is really the last step for him. But we've seen a lot of positives obviously."
Later in the conversation, Zaidi revealed that he believes Schmitt is a viable big-league shortstop. Schmitt was drafted by the Giants in the second round of the 2020 MLB Draft out of San Diego State as a third baseman. However, considered the best infield defender in the farm system, Schmitt has handled shortstop surprisingly well.
"He's kind of a third baseman by trade, but he's played shortstop at various levels," Zaidi said about Schmitt. "He has the defensive actions for it and likes doing it. There are shortstops in the big leagues that didn't necessarily come up playing that position full time. It's just about showing the skill level to do it."
Schmitt had a breakout 2022 minor-league season. He hit .273/.363/.475 with 14 doubles and 17 home runs in 93 games at High-A before he was promoted to Double-A, where he hit .342 in a small sample that earned him another promotion. In a few games at Triple-A, he posted a .913 OPS. This spring, Schmitt is hitting .381/.395/.667 with a pair of doubles, triples, and homers in 43 plate appearances.
Barring a late spring injury, Casey Schmitt will start this season at Triple-A. However, after hearing SF Giants president Farhan Zaidi sing his praises on Thursday night, it's clear that he has a chance to make his MLB debut early in the season.
