SF Giants prospects: Breaking down Casey Schmitt's Triple-A data
Casey Schmitt was one of the most impressive prospects in the SF Giants farm system last year, rising all the way from High-A to Triple-A before the season was over. With Statcast available in the Pacific Coast League, Schmitt's short time at Triple-A created a small sample of data that could provide an interesting lens into his development.
There are many ways to look at Schmitt’s Statcast data but the focus is specifically at Schmitt’s swing data based on pitch types and their location whether inside or outside the strike zone as it provides the most information while spending the least amount of time.
Unsurprisingly, Schmitt faced a heavy does of fastballs (46.7%) from Triple-A pitchers. Schmitt was quick to capitalize whenever a fastball was thrown in the strike zone, making contact on roughly 88.9% of his swings and generating hard-hit contact 37.5% of the time. Notably, his only swing-and-miss against a fastball.
Sliders were the next most thrown pitch to Schmitt (30%) and it was opponent's best bet to get Schmitt to swing and miss (27.8% whiff-rate). Schmitt had a coin-flip chance that he will try to chase a slider outside the zone (50%) and unsurprisingly whiffed on 80% of those swings. Interestingly though, when he did get a slider in the zone, though, he made contact 87.5% of the time.
While Schmitt's sample of curveballs and changeups were too small to do any in-depth data analysis, he blasted changeups with at least a 95 mph exit velocity 50% of the time when he made contact.
Schmitt will almost assuredly return to Triple-A this season, and we should get a far more significant sample of him facing the best pitching in the minor leagues. Nevertheless, even in his small sample last season, he already showed the ability to handle Triple-A fastballs and do damage against some off-speed offerings. Granted, the slice of data we have suggests he will need to make some adjustments to avoid chasing sliders outside the zone.
