Casey Schmitt continues to help carry Giants’ slumping lineup in win vs. Marlins

SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants do ceremonies for their former stars better than anyone. They also have learned over the years that it’s impossible to figure out how to perfectly time these days.When they honored Brandon Belt on Saturday afternoon, the speeches went just long enough that The Captain and his family weren’t able to get off the field until four minutes before the scheduled first pitch. That led to some chaos, particularly around the home dugout. As players got loose, they had to find their way around a fishing boat that was attached to a truck parked in front of the dugout’s steps. One more ride for Captain Belt: pic.twitter.com/bsutR1BXcy — Alex Pavlovic (&commat;PavlovicNBCS) April 25, 2026 When it was Casey Schmitt’s turn to head back to the dugout, he looked around as if he was being pranked. “There’s a boat here,” he said, laughing as he searched for a good way around it. On most days, Schmitt wouldn’t have to deal with it. The 27-year-old has become an unlikely choice to be the everyday DH early in the season, but on Saturday he got to start at third base and have a normal day of prep and defensive work so Matt Chapman could get a bit of rest. Whether playing the field or DHing, Schmitt has done the same thing. He is finally living up to his potential at the plate, and his two-run blast Saturday gave the Giants a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. HOLY SCHMITT pic.twitter.com/V8Sb1xLX1M — SF Giants on NBCS (&commat;NBCSGiants) April 25, 2026 The homer was Schmitt’s third and raised his OPS to .854, the highest among Giants regulars. His .295 average is second to three-time batting champ Luis Arraez, and he leads the way with a wRC+ of 138. That’s second among National Leaguers whose primary position has been DH, and in the NL, that’s a loaded class. “I think it’s just trusting my swing,” Schmitt said of the improvements. “I’m just trusting in my swing. I think younger me would have gone to the batting cage and tried to change everything to try to do something (new) but I’m just taking it for what it is and just knowing that those are good swings and I’m in a spot I need to be in. It’s just trusting that and not trying to do too much.”Schmitt’s blast was the difference in a 6-2 win over the Miami Marlins, and it helped wash away the bad taste after a baserunning mistake in the second. He hit a bloop to left while leading off the second and noticed that three Marlins, including the shortstop and third baseman, had converged on the ball. Schmitt rounded second aggressively and then saw that the throw was coming in behind him. He fell as he tried to get back, and for the second time in two games, he was backpicked at second base. The mistake was costly, as Jung Hoo Lee followed with a double that would have brought him home. But it also wasn’t as bad as it might have looked to those watching on TV. Had Schmitt kept going, it would have been a race to third between him, the third baseman and pitcher Eury Perez, who noticed the bag had been left wide open. His path would have been the cleanest. Regardless, Schmitt found the perfect way to make everyone forget about it. “It led to the strategy of ‘hit a home run, that way they can’t backpick you at second base,’ ” manager Tony Vitello said. “It’s an excellent strategy.”It was a sequence that was perfectly timed for another reason, too. In a lot of ways, Schmitt is reminiscent of Belt, who needed some time to fully find his footing in the big leagues but became such a consistent contributor that he earned his own day at Oracle Park. Like Belt, Schmitt has found that he’s on the end of a lot of clubhouse jokes, in large part because his teammates know he can handle it. As Schmitt was wrapping up a postgame interview Saturday, reliever J.T. Brubaker emerged at the back of the pack. He asked Schmitt why he never points to the bullpen as he’s rounding the bases after home runs. Schmitt smiled and ducked his head.“Honestly, I forget every time,” he said. Vitello got his crack in, too, but he has quickly come to appreciate the young infielder, and he liked the look in his eye after the early mistake. “The guys know, and I definitely know, too — he wants to win,” Vitello said. “When an obstacle comes up, the one thing he does is he gets a little more determined. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that (the homer) happened.”It was Schmitt’s first this year while playing the field, which is not what anyone could have imagined when he broke into the big leagues. Schmitt was so good defensively in the minors that scouts predicted he might win Gold Gloves at third, comparing him to Chapman and others. With Chapman at third and Rafael Devers now playing first every day, Schmitt has had to adjust. He started to DH full-time on the last trip and learned how to form a routine on the fly. In Baltimore, the cage was so far from the dugout that Schmitt found he was just about due up by the time he ran down to get loose. He started to swing into a net instead, and has carried that over to the homestand. There’s something else, too. “I pace a lot,” he said. “I’ll be walking up and down the dugout to keep my legs warm.”If he did it by habit in the early innings Saturday, he might have heard a few jokes from teammates. But he has a pretty good comeback right now. During a stretch when some of the lineup’s biggest stars have gone cold, Schmitt has been a savior. “The guy is competing like crazy,” Vitello said.Download and follow the Giants Talk Podcast

Casey Schmitt continues to help carry Giants’ slumping lineup in win vs. Marlins

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