Patrick Bailey

Bailey, Schmitt sharing ‘unusual' experience as rookies

What Patrick Bailey and Casey Schmitt have been able to do as rookies have given the Giants a preview of what to expect for years to come.

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SAN FRANCISCO -- There will come a day, eventually, when rookies Patrick Bailey and Casey Schmitt start to play like, well ... rookies. 

Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but eventually. Right?

Both Bailey (3 for 5, HR, 2B, 4 RBI) and Schmitt (3 for 5, 2B, 2 RBI) each had a big day at the plate in the Giants' 14-4 thumping of the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday at Oracle Park. The two combined for six hits and six RBI in front of a rowdy and star-struck crowd of 39,000 fans. 

In speaking with reporters after the game, Giants manager Gabe Kapler, discussing Bailey and Schmitt's continued success at the major-league level, was asked if the rookies' performance so far this season has surprised him. 

"It's unusual. It's unusual to see two rookies come up and have the type of success and sustained success that these two players are having," Kapler explained. "I imagine, and this is a little bit of a speculative take, that they're having a shared experience around it."

For a franchise that won three World Series championships behind a core of homegrown stars, it's not hard to imagine Bailey, Schmitt, starting pitcher Logan Webb, closer Camilo Doval and prospects Kyle Harrison, Luis Matos and Marco Luciano all teaming up together one day to from that next generation of beloved Giants players. 

"You can kind of dream on the possibilities of these guys playing together for a really long time and looking back on this time when they first got called up to the major leagues and really propelled our team to win a lot of baseball games," Kapler added. 

Schmitt made his debut with the Giants on May 9, while Bailey joined the club 10 days later on May 19. Taken in the third and first rounds of the 2020 MLB Draft class, the two have played with each other every step of the way throughout their professional careers.

In 2021, Schmitt and Bailey played together for Low-A San Jose. Last season, the two teamed up again with High-A Eugene. After impressive auditions earlier this spring, Schmitt and Bailey played together again with Triple-A Sacramento before their promotions. 

"It's definitely cool," Schmitt told NBC Sports Bay Area. "Just for us, we were both the same draft and it's really cool for us to be up here and be together and play with him my first year of pro ball and we played together and played together ever since. It's really cool for it to be here and happening. It's pretty surreal."

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Having been together nearly every step of the way, Bailey and Schmitt not only are leaning on their veteran teammates for help, but also -- perhaps more importantly -- themselves and the other rookies who have been thrust into everyday or semi-everyday roles. 

"We got a lot of young guys, also a lot of veteran guys, so everyone's learning from the veteran guys for the most part," Bailey told reporters postgame. "And then just talking with Casey, talking with [Brett Wisely], [Bryce Johnson], [David] Villar and all those guys just like 'Hey, what are you seeing here, what do you got?' 

"I was saying when I first came up here it was really exciting to see Casey's success right away from Sacramento ... just a fun time right now."

Bailey, who is just a few months younger than Schmitt, celebrated his 24th birthday on Monday. As the two continue to make waves in the big leagues, you don't have to squint in order to see a future in which both rookies and potentially a slew of others, are celebrating wins together on the field at Oracle Park.

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