When the Giants announced that they were selecting Reggie Crawford with the No. 30 pick in the 2022 MLB Draft, the franchise knew they were getting a two-way player. However, some might not know that the 21-year-old was also a two-way athlete growing up.
Crawford spent most of his life in the pool working on his craft as a swimmer. Furthermore, the new San Francisco prospect told KNBR's Murph & Mac on Tuesday that he was late getting into baseball.
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"I was a swimmer mainly my whole life. I don't really start playing baseball seriously until the summer going into my senior year," Crawford said.
Despite picking up baseball late in high school, the Giants prospect still had no plans of playing the sport at the collegiate level, since he was looking at universities with good swimming programs.
"My top two schools I was looking at was either Florida or Arizona State. So basically, again, I wasn't even planning to play college baseball," Crawford said.
"Professional baseball wasn't a goal of mine just because swimming was always so much cheaper. So we really couldn't afford to get into a circuit but that was the most part. But then we got everything set up, which was super helpful, and that's when baseball really took off."
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Crawford credits his high school coach for helping him get on the path to playing college baseball, leading to him becoming a first-round pick by the Giants.
In an alternate universe, the pitcher might be preparing to participate in the Summer Olympics rather than attempting to work through the minor league system in hopes of reaching the Giants.