SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — It was an unfair comparison from the start, but Reggie Crawford will not be the next Shohei Ohtani.
The two-way player the Giants selected 30th overall in the 2022 amateur draft is abandoning that path to pursue a one-way track to the major leagues.
Crawford, 23, will put down the bat and shift all of his focus to what he can do with his left arm, which can pump triple-digit heaters out of his 6-foot-4 frame.
According to Crawford, it was a decision he came to recently after “a lot of thinking and weighing the pros and cons.”
“We’re not going to completely eliminate (hitting), but we’re trying to figure out BP a couple times a week, how we’re going to make that work,” Crawford said. “I wanted to focus on pitching for this season.”
Crawford’s performance in the Arizona Fall League, where he focused exclusively on hitting, was ultimately the deciding factor. Having never played above Single-A, Crawford faced a higher level of pitching than he ever had before, and finished the 17-game season with a .138 batting average and 30 strikeouts in 71 plate appearances.
It wasn’t necessarily a wake-up call, Crawford said, but it was a reminder that because of injuries he had hardly faced live pitching since college. Since being drafted, Crawford accumulated only 40 minor-league plate appearances across two seasons.
“Obviously I have a lot of catch-up at the plate from the last couple years,” Crawford said. “There was a time where I liked to sacrifice time to continue to get to that place where I feel comfortable again, but it changed for me. …
“Across the board I’m not sure how many people would have success taking two years off and coming back into it. But that’s the thing, if I’m just hitting then that’s the way it works. I go into the season trying to have a better season at the plate. But I also have the ability to say, OK, I’m gonna focus on this other thing. So that’s essentially what I did.”
There’s hope that focusing on just one aspect of the game can accelerate Crawford’s development, which has been sidetracked by injuries.
In the middle of recovering from Tommy John surgery when he was drafted, Crawford didn’t get off the mound in the pros for the first time until 2023. Even that was delayed by a month, coming down with mononucleosis as he neared the end of his rehab.
And now, to start this spring, Crawford has been shut down for the next three to four weeks after straining his lat playing catch before camp began.
“There’s been some injuries,” manager Bob Melvin said. “Trying to combat that a little bit and focus on one (position). Who knows where it goes, he’s one of these extreme athletes. But I think if you’re debating which one is ahead of the other, what we’re looking at is the pitching end of it right now.”
The two-way path has always been Crawford’s dream, and since childhood has been the only thing he pursued.
“It is crazy to think about,” he said. “I’ve never really put all of my time into one of them and I’ve still seen some success here and there. I’m excited to see what it looks like being able to put all my time into it. It’ll be fun.”
Crawford’s ever-positive attitude was almost as large a part of his scouting report as his abilities with a bat and ball, and he’s taken his lumps in stride.
Wearing an ice pack on his shoulder after a round of treatment for his latest ailment, Crawford was asked how he’s doing (pleasantries are back in style, in case you haven’t heard). To which he responded, enthusiastically, “No complaints!”
“Not one?,” asked a reporter, gesturing to his shoulder enrobed in athletic tape.
“S— happens,” Crawford said, smiling. “When I come back from this, just stay healthy and then everything will take care of itself.”
Notable
— Another one of the Giants’ top pitching prospects in camp, LHP Carson Whisenhunt, had his scheduled throwing session postponed. He took a ball off the index finger on his throwing hand in pitchers’ fielding practice Wednesday, but Melvin said “it’s not a serious thing.”
Source: www.mercurynews.com