Player review: Casey Schmitt - Yahoo Sports

2025 stats: 95 G, 348 PA, .237/ .305/ .401, .163 ISO, 24 K%, 8 BB%, 101 OPS+, 0.6 bWAR

Luis Arraez’s 2026 defensive reclamation project has kicked Casey Schmitt to the curb, and once again the infielder has found himself without a hook to hang his hat.

Schmitt has been the question mark of the Giants’ infield conundrum for more than a year and a half now. Since Matt Chapman’s signing, which blocked Schmitt from his natural position in early 2024, he has wandered the infield desert, kicking stones from position to position, filling in but never settling in while having to scratch and claw for playing time scraps with other rag-tags like Thairo Estrada, Nick Ahmed, Marco Luciano, Brett Wisely, Tyler Fitzgerald, and Christian Koss.

Better suited for the more aesthetic left-side of the diamond, Schmitt has had to adapt to the right-side’s restrained pragmatism as a last resort once Willy Adames locked up the shortstop position. Half of his defensive appearances from 2024 and 2025 have come at second base, a position he had never played until 2023. At the start of last year, Schmitt found himself with a lobster claw on his hand, forced to learn first base in order to stay roster relevant. He made 18 appearances there, most of them coming in April before an injury, and the arrival of Dom Smith, then Rafael Devers.

While Schmitt’s flexibility has been invaluable to the club, it has also come with a personal cost. I’ve wondered at times if the inconsistencies of his schedule and the uncertainties of his role year-after-year has toyed with his development. Instead of being able to focus on his offense, Schmitt has been forced to rethink his defense in a way he never really had to before. His willingness to serve the whims of fickle coaches and front offices in order to gain access to the field has affected his play on it.

There are certain traits that lend oneself to being able to play anywhere at any time with little notice. There is a temperament and style required to be a successful utility infielder. Christian Koss has it. I’m not sure Schmitt does. To me, Schmitt feels like a homebody. A man with simple but essential needs: iced coffee in the fridge, a California burrito to eat, a couch to sit on. In order to really access his power and hit in the way that separates himself from players like Koss, Schmitt needs to be comfortable positionally. He’s a defense-first player at his core. Home is where the glove is, and it’s clear from his defensive position splits where home his, no matter how long he’s been away.

As a third baseman: .286/ .349/ .454 / .803 OPS (217 PA)

As a second baseman: .204/ .259/ .383/ .641 OPS (294 PA)

On June 8th, Matt Chapman injured his hand trying to dive back to first base. On June 10th, Schmitt started at third base for just the second time all year. He was hitting .180 with a .521 OPS while sporadically covering first. In the 9th inning of that game, he lasered an elevated fastball 408 feet for his first homer of the year. That solo shot sparked a 4-run game-winning rally and set Schmitt off on a 14-game tear in which he slashed .375 with a 1.090 OPS.

Though he committed a costly error in the Colorado finale, Schmitt made amends by becoming the first player in franchise history to hit a grand slam in back-to-back games — both made that much sweeter by coming against, and in, LA.

Schmitt was back in his element, his natural and preferred state. He was a third baseman again. The comfort and ease he felt being in a familiar position led to an outburst at the plate — was it as simple as that? I mean, we had seen something like it before at the end of the 2024 season when Schmitt responded to three consecutive starts at the hot corner against Baltimore with five hits and three RBIs.

Here’s his defensive splits from 2025:

Rather cruelly Schmitt took a fastball to his left wrist in a game on June 25th that promptly brought an end to his hot streak. The two-week stint at third felt like a fever dream. When he returned from the IL, Chapman was back, and reality resided on the right-side of the diamond. Second base beckoned, and though it has never been his position of choice, it gave him the chance to keep riding the wave if he could, providing him the most consistent playing time he has ever had in his short career. From early July to the end of the season, he played in 61 games, most of them at second — and he hit just .220 with a .663 OPS.

Schmitt had the chance in the second half of the season to assert a claim on second base, and he kind of chunked it. Was he homesick for the hot corner? Still focusing a disproportionate amount of energy learning the intricacies of the new position at the expense of his offense? Still dealing with discomfort in his left wrist (which he had surgery on in December)? Or was this just an inevitable leveling out for an offensively temperamental player? All of the above?

Overall, Schmitt made some impressive strides with his plate discipline, but he still ranked below average in BB, K, Whiff, and Chase percentiles. His slightly above average ability to hit the ball hard (when he hits the ball) buoyed him to becoming a pretty average offensive player (101 OPS+) in 2025. Though a MiLB Gold Glove winner years ago, he didn’t rate too well defensively either. All of that so-so-ness meant Buster Posey was keen on finding a replacement. The fact that the replacement was Luis Arraez caused some consternation, but there’s no doubt that the three-time batting champ adds a much-needed, and immediate, contact dynamic to the Giants’ line-up that Schmitt does not.

So with another year gone, Schmitt’s job options remain limited. The soon-to-be 27 year old is currently the front runner for the Giants’ utility role, staring down the barrel of another season pieced together by planned off-days, injury-coverage, sporadic plate appearances, late-game defensive substitutions, and getting really good at sunflower seed stuff. Perhaps it’s what he’s earned, and it’s certainly better than nothing, but it’s definitely not preferred. I feel for the guy. It’s been two years since third base became an impossibility, and yet the base is still there, staring at him from across the infield, reminding him of what could’ve been. It must feel so frustrating to be boxed of your natural position like that, occasionally teased with brief stints of play separated by months…then to be roster-blocked again by another late-signing. But that’s also life on this seamed hardball we call Earth. Adapt, or die. Second base is the only way forward for Schmitt. It’s not ideal, sure, but that’s the deal.

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