Brandon Crawford is the last remaining vestige of World Series pedigree in the Giants’ clubhouse. His locker by the entrance, with no direct neighbor, is as much a window into the franchise’s golden past as its present.
The oldest regular shortstop in MLB, Crawford’s storied career is at a distinct point. Halfway through his 13th season, Crawford has shown signs of decline, but also bursts of production on both sides of the ball. His presence on the team as a veteran leader in itself has incalculable value.
Crawford is slightly hobbled as the All-Star break begins. He exited after hustling down the line in the sixth inning of Saturday’s game then sat out Sunday, but his hamstring injury isn’t viewed as a significant concern.
“It was something that obviously didn’t feel great, but I felt like I could still play,” Crawford said Sunday. “But I’ve probably done that too many times in my career. It was smart to play it safe.”
That’s the plight of a 36-year-old shortstop. Crawford has racked up accomplishments and is climbing franchise leaderboards in several statistical categories. He’s won two rings, four Gold Gloves, a Silver Slugger and three All-Star selections. As a Giant, he doesn’t have anything left to prove.
Yet there he is, just about every game, at his post of shortstop, corralling grounders and flipping across the diamond. Crawford’s first half of 2023 contained multitudes. He logged his 1,623rd game as a Giant — seventh all time — made his long-awaited pitching debut, grappled momentarily with scaled back playing time, and went through extended slumps despite hitting .367 with runners in scoring position.
Just before the All-Star break, KNBR.com caught up with Crawford at his locker to hear his perspective on his season so far, the 2023 Giants and more. This interview has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.
KNBR: You’ve had a ton of big hits this year, you’ve made your pitching debut, at one point your role looked to be waning a bit — how would you sum up your first half?
Crawford: A little bit of a rollercoaster. I mean, definitely not the first half I would’ve liked. But I don’t know, at the same time, going into the break I feel pretty good at the plate. Playing pretty much everyday. Hoping to kind of go into the second half on a little bit of an upward trajectory, I guess. On a positive note.
Has anything changed between when you were struggling and now, when you’re a bit more comfortable at the plate?
Yeah, I mean I changed my daily routine. In Minnesota, I started doing some different drills in the cage before every game. So that definitely changed. I think what we were working on kind of translated right away.
Just doing some stuff to make sure my back leg is getting more engaged. First of all, getting weight back on that back leg, then using it the right way.
Much has been made of you taking Casey Schmitt under your wing. Do you view that as your responsibility?
It’s not like I made a conscious effort or anything like that, in taking him under my wing. It’s just more like he’s somebody I got to know in spring training. I want, just as a teammate, as a friend, whatever, I want to help as much as I can. I didn’t take it as like a mentorship or anything like that. Just as a veteran guy, playing the same position or a similar position, his first couple months in the big leagues, you try to help him out.
You’re in your 13th season. You’ve been through a lot. What still motivates you?
It’s my job (laughs). Go out there and bring it, make all the plays I can. I don’t know. I’ve always had a drive to try to be the best that I can. No matter what year I’m in, or anything like that, prove to myself that I’m a good baseball player.
What’s the biggest difference between being in your 13th year vs when you were younger?
How my body feels, day in and day out. That’s a big difference. But I mean other than that, I try to keep a pretty good routine that I’ve had for years. Whether it’s pregame taking care of my body, taking swings in the cage, on the field, whatever it is that day. Just trying to prepare myself as much as I can.
A lot of athletes, when they get to later stages of their careers, say that actually playing the games isn’t the hard part, but rather everything in between — the body aches, the travel, the offseason training, being away from your family. Does that resonate with you?
I mean, yeah, sure. I’m in the training room pretty much everyday to prepare my body for the game. But I still enjoy the travel — other than our last trip. Still enjoy the travel, being in the clubhouse with the guys and stuff like that. That’s kind of the fun part. But yeah, physically, it’s a little bit tougher to feel good everyday. It takes a lot of preparation there in the training room to get out there and be able to move around.
What, from your vantage, is your outlook for this team in the second half?
I mean, I think we’ve shown that we can beat the best teams in baseball. That’s definitely a positive. But we’ve been really streaky. At the end of the season, that can sometimes be a really good thing — sometimes a team that’s been streaky all year gets on a hot streak at the end of the year and cruises through the postseason, ends up winning the World Series. I’ve definitely seen that happen. But you get on a bad streak toward the end of the year, you end up missing the postseason. Hopefully we can be a little more consistent in the second half, and more consistently good at winning games.
Does this team remind you of any others you’ve been on?
It’s hard to think about specific seasons. We’ve definitely had streaky teams in the past. Some of our World Series teams, we were pretty good but then got on a hot streak at the end of the year and went on to win the World Series. It’s hard to compare to any specific team.