Up 2-0 in the fourth inning against the Washington Nationals, Casey Schmitt walks up to the plate for his second big-league plate appearance.
As a 92 mph sinker starts to spin in towards Schmitt, the ball launches quickly off of his bat.
At Oracle Park, home of the San Francisco Giants, the center field wall sits at 399. It’s the second-longest spot from home plate, and once that ball left Schmitt’s bat, it was clear that it was over the wall.
The video broadcast immediately switched to both of Schmitt’s parents jumping up and down surrounded by 60 of their closest friends and family who traveled down from San Diego for his debut.
The camera switched back to him as he stood all alone while running all of the bases. A big smile crossed his face while fans cheered as loud as possible for him.
“I didn’t know what to do,” Schmitt said about having the spotlight. “It was all on me.”
After spending two years in the minors, including one year in Eugene, the infielder made his major league debut and it was a memorable one.
“There were so many emotions. Just everything bundled into one,” Schmitt said. “It’s something I’m never going to forget.”
Schmitt is the second player drafted by Farhan Zaidi, the President of Baseball Operations for San Francisco, to debut with the Giants and the first position player. He was taken in the second round in a shortened pandemic draft in 2020. Schmitt is part of a class that the organization and fans hope will change the course of the franchise.
While in Eugene last summer, he spent 93 games with the Emeralds and led the team in four offensive categories including runs, hits, batting average and RBIs. He led the Northwest League in OPS (.984) and was not only named to the Northwest League All-Star team, but was awarded an MiLB Golden Glove.
Between Schmitt’s strong performance and the Emeralds’ second straight championship, the Giants fast-tracked him. Towards the end of spring training earlier this year, he was in the lineup with the projected Opening Day roster and was voted as the best newcomer.
“He’s really shown himself well and I think really accelerated his timetable,” Zaidi said during spring training. “I think he’s really shown that he could help us early in the season, so we’ll be watching him very closely.”
By the time his phone rang with the important news, he almost missed it. He received a call from the Giants’ Triple-A manager, Dave Brundage, while watching Guardians of the Galaxy in Sacramento and didn’t notice his ring. While the credits were rolling, he checked his phone and saw that Brundage called a second time and left the theater. Right after, he called his parents at 10:30 p.m. with the news.
“So, yeah, we didn’t sleep at all,” said Dan Schmitt, Casey’s dad. “We started packing and texting everybody. It didn’t matter what time it was. Friends in Chicago, Texas, Nevada, North Carolina. We texted them all. And they’re all here. The majority of people here are all his friends.”
Casey asked to speak to his grandmother. His parents put her on the phone.
“We told her, ‘Casey wants to tell you something,’” Dan Schmitt said. “He told her he really wanted her to come to San Francisco. She hasn’t been out of the house in three years. She has health challenges, medications. But when they started talking, it got pretty emotional. She said, ‘You know, mijo, I’ll be there.’ And here we are.”
Schmitt started the season with the Sacramento River Cats, the Giants’ Triple-A team, and found a hot streak at the plate. That combined with San Francisco’s Gold Glove shortstop Brandon Crawford on the injured list and a projection of facing a left-handed pitcher during the first game of the series against the Washington Nationals was all that Zaidi and manager Gabe Kapler needed in order to make the call. With the Giants playing a horrendous game the night before, it was the cherry on top for Schmitt’s promotion.
“I’m really happy for Casey. He’s had a fantastic camp,” Kapler said. “He has shown why everybody was so excited about his defense and he’s shown a clean, compact swing that he can repeat and drive the baseball.”
As he’s getting adjusted to the big leagues, Emeralds fans are excited about the future of the Giants’ organization and Schmitt is the start of it all.