Casey Schmitt Batted 7th on Opening Day. He's Now the Giants' MVP.

The San Francisco Giants are not having the season anyone expected or hoped for. They are currently 27-39 and buried deep in the National League West standings. In fact, they are a dismal 15 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers. This team just cannot seem to find consistency.

Amid all the losing, one player has shown up time and time again for the team. He has put together one of the best offensive campaigns of his career. Casey Schmitt is now 27 years old, and he has earned his way right to the top of the lineup.

Drafted in the second round by the Giants in 2020, the San Diego State product has found solid footing in his 2026 season so far. He is slashing .281/.313/.537 with 15 home runs, 38 RBI, and an .850 OPS through 58 games.

By every meaningful stat, Schmitt is the Giants most valuable hitter in 2026 about 1/3 of the way through the season.

Moving On Up

Casey Schmitt | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

The evidence is there, and likely the most compelling argument for Schmitt being the team MVP rests in the history of the lineup cards.

On Opening Day, Schmitt was hitting seventh. Management wasn’t yet sure they could trust Schmitt with premium at-bat opportunities. Into early April, that is about where he stayed, somewhere toward the bottom, while the Giants worked to figure out their preferred order.

Then Schmitt came alive and started hitting. By mid-April, he was moving more to the middle of the order. May rolled around and he could be found in the top four. On the final day of May, manager Tony Vitello moved him to the top. He’s the leadoff man and he hasn’t moved since.

Going from the bottom of the lineup to the top in just two months time is not something that happens by accident. This is proof that Schmitt is worthy and Vitello noticed.

Schmitt Seizing the Opportunity

The path to an everyday player wasn’t exactly planned for Schmitt either. He was the team’s designated hitter to start the season. Then, when left fielder Heliot Ramos found himself placed on the 10-day injured list on May 16, the door opened for Schmitt.

Filling a void in left field and becoming the leadoff hitter have completely reshaped Schmitt’s 2026 campaign. He’s never even slightly looked back either.

These are the kind of moves that start to define an athlete’s career. While Schmitt has shown some brilliance in the past, it has never been consistent. Everyone knew the tools were there; they just couldn’t be found every day.

Now, something has clicked and he is making the most of it.

The Story of Numbers

Schmitt not only leads the team when he walks out to the batter’s box, he also leads several stats. He has hit 15 home runs this year, where second place for the team is Willy Adames with 11. His slugging percentage of .537 and an .850 OPS lead the team by a very comfortable margin.

Looking back over his career makes these numbers pop even more. Through his first three MLB seasons, Schmitt had a career OPS of .714. In 2026, he’s at .850 and has already matched his career high in home runs for a season. We still have about two-thirds of the year to go. How many will he hit? Well, no one saw this coming, so that’s hard to say.

Looking Forward

His most recent splits show that he may be cooling off just a bit. He is just .206 over the last seven games, but unless he really cools off, he has earned his position.

Ramos is progressing through his right quad injury rehab assignments in Arizona and could return sometime in June, but the timeline has not been announced by the team. When first discussed, it was expected that Ramos would be out for at least two weeks, but without an update, it is clear that it will be a bit before he is added back to the lineup.

That will make for an interesting decision for Vitello. Given that he is in his first year as a Major League Baseball manager, the learning curve has to be steep. This will be a decision to be watched closely.

Schmitt has done everything possible to make this decision a very difficult one.

Add us as a preferred source on Google