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At 36 years old, Brandon Crawford is ‘doing young guy things’ like SF Giants need him to

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San Francisco Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford #35 puts the tag on Arizona Diamondbacks' Geraldo Perdomo #2 but doesn’t have the ball as Perdomo steals second base in the first inning of their MLB game at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Wednesday, August 2, 2023. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)




SAN FRANCISCO — More times than any other player, Brandon Crawford has rounded second base on a base hit at Oracle Park and set his sights on third.

Until Wednesday night, however, Crawford had never done it as a 36-year-old. Battling age and the nagging injuries that accompany it, it had been more than a year since Crawford’s last triple. So it really was pretty outlandish when he texted Brandon Belt, the man closest to matching his experience on the local base paths, the night before.

Fresh off an 11-day reset, Crawford launched a 420-feet homer Tuesday night. In Toronto, Belt went yard, too.

“We both had homers on the same day, and Belt responded with, ‘Now we just need the Brandon cycle,'” Crawford said Wednesday after San Francisco’s 4-2 win. “I jokingly said, ‘Who’s getting the triple?’ It’s funny it happened the next day.”

Crawford made the turn at second in the fifth inning Wednesday night and dove safely into third, using a swim move to narrowly avoid the glove of Arizona’s Jace Peterson. It gave him a good reason to shoot off another text: it was Crawford’s 28th career triple at Oracle Park, breaking a tie with Belt for the most all-time.

“That’s an old guy doing young guy things, right?” 26-year-old starter Logan Webb said, regretting his choice of words a moment later.

“Oh, he’s gonna give me (grief) for that.”

Opting for internal reinforcements at the trade deadline, the Giants did nothing to lighten the load — or the burden — on Crawford over the final two months of the season. It’s all the more important now, with no help on the way and their rookies reeling, that their 13th-year shortstop is healthy and effective for the stretch run.

“We’ve seen when Brandon is at his healthiest and his freshest, he’s a really good shortstop and comes up with big, clutch hits for us,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “We’ve seen that pretty consistently over the last couple years. The trick is obviously keeping that and trying to not overdo it.”

There have been more positive signs than the triple since being activated from the injured list on Saturday.

In four games, Crawford has five hits in 16 at-bats (.313 average) with nearly as many going for extra bases (two) as he had in his 19 previous games (three). In the one game he was held hitless, he made one productive out (a sac fly with a man on third) and another that was his third-hardest-hit ball of the year, at 107 mph off the bat.

On Wednesday, Webb had a front-row seat as Crawford dusted off the afterburners on his way to third — “I told him he was fast as- I might’ve said a bad word,” he said — and flashed his vintage form in the field.

In the first inning, Corbin Carroll laced a changeup from Webb up the middle at 103.1 mph, the D-backs’ third-hardest hit of the night. It’s a hit more times than not against an infield playing at normal depth. Crawford, lined up on the cut of the infield grass with a runner on third, dove to his left and snared it.

“I’m lucky to say I get to have him back there every time I throw,” Webb said. “You know exactly what you’re going to get every time he comes out there. To be honest with you, I think he puts a little bit too much pressure on himself to always try to be perfect. … I think we’re all grinding in here. It’s exciting just to have him back out there.”

The timing of Crawford’s resurgence is no coincidence.

Inflammation in his left knee sent him to the IL only three games after the All-Star break for the second time this season.

The time off, Crawford said, was “huge” in managing not only the knee, but the rest of him. He has also dealt with forearm, calf, hamstring and midsection trouble at various points this season.

“I’ve been feeling a lot better since coming back,” Crawford said. “It also gives me a little reset for the whole body. So I feel a little bit better overall. … There have been a few stretches (this season) where I’ve felt pretty good. Unfortunately one of them was right before I went on the IL in April. I just want to keep going.”

Crawford’s triple traveled an estimated 389 feet in the air; it would’ve been a home run in 22 other ballparks, according to Statcast.

“He was a little pissed it wasn’t a home run,” Webb said. “I said well you looked good getting a triple. That’s a little cooler, right? Cool slide.”

Asked how he would describe his headfirst slide into third, Crawford smiled.

“Super athletic,” he said.

Among Kapler’s tallest tasks over the final two months: Striking the right balance to keep his veteran shortstop feeling super athletic and doing young guy things. That, the Giants hope, is where the actual young guys — Casey Schmitt and Marco Luciano, primarily — come in.

“At times, we’re gonna need to ride Brandon and really lean on him,” Kapler said. “But we also need to get him a break and give some other guys a chance to play, as well.”


Originally published at Evan Webeck

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