For most of the last decade, the Giants had two marquee players who viewed themselves as two-way contributors. Madison Bumgarner successfully lobbied his way into 14 pinch-hit appearances for Bruce Bochy (he was remarkably helpful, too, reaching base in half of them), but first baseman Brandon Belt has thus far been foiled in his plans to one day take the mound.
The game is changing, though, and those conversations no longer happen just behind closed doors. Shohei Ohtani of the Angels is the most notable example, and the Giants once chased him with the very clear plan of letting him be an ace and a key part of their lineup. The Rays' Brendan McKay is one of the top pitching prospects in the game and was drafted as a two-way player who ultimately could also DH or play first base later in his career. The Padres' Jake Cronenworth is a middle infielder who successfully added relief pitching last year in Triple-A and could do both at the big league level.
It raised eyebrows, then, when the Giants took Casey Schmitt in the second round Thursday. He is a potential big league starter at third base, but in college he was also a lockdown closer, with a low 90s fastball and a splitter. He had six saves in a shortened junior season.
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Schmitt was on prospect lists -- he was No. 37 overall, per Baseball-America -- as a third baseman/right-handed pitcher, but the Giants for now will focus on the hitting side.
"Look, Casey is a really athletic guy who obviously excelled on the mound and at the plate," Giants scouting director Michael Holmes said. "We really like him and we really like his bat and we really like his ability at third base, so when we drafted him we see him as a third baseman. But if you ask him he would probably beg us to do both. I'll let player development iron those details out, but it was definitely his bat that attracted us to him."
That player development machine will soon get involved, and Farhan Zaidi is the leader of it. Zaidi is well-known for coveting versatility, and there's nothing that adds more of that to your roster than a player who can go both ways. Schmitt showed that in the Cape Cod League last summer, hitting two home runs and then pitching a scoreless ninth in the final game of the championship series. But Zaidi also tapped the brakes on any initial two-way talk, noting that, for now, it's just a good backup plan.
"I know that from a scouting standpoint we just really love the bat, we love the defense at third base. When you see a guy as an everyday player like that, that's where most of our interest in the player came from," he said. "But to Holmesy's point, you've got more and more guys who have two-way ability the way rosters are being used, and with the expanded roster we'll see where the rules go. That could become an even more valuable trait for players.
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"We've got some time to sort through it. Our focus will be to develop him as a position player, but we wouldn't rule out pitching at some point."
The Giants selected seven players in total in the draft, and a couple of later picks also came with some questions about their professional roles. Compensation pick Jimmy Glowenke is a shortstop but some scouts think he'll have to move to second. Holmes said the Giants actually see him as someone who can handle second, short and third.
"That versatility to be able to move around, it certainly was attractive about him," Holmes said, "But I do believe that he can go out and handle shortstop."
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Fifth-rounder R.J. Dabovich was a reliever at Arizona State with a fastball that runs into the upper 90s, but he certainly would have much more long-term value if that velocity could play as a starter. The Giants will see if that's possible. The initial plan when minor league baseball returns is for Dabovich to get his innings count up.
"We think there's starter ability with him," Holmes said.
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