After having their first two draft picks wiped away by MLB in the sign-stealing scandal’s punishment phase, the Houston Astros are now forced to be that much more creative in how they acquire new talent.

One way has been to hit a road less traveled. Pitching coach Brent Strom recently trekked to Alaska and found a little-known pitcher with a 96 mph fastball, Johnny Meszaros, and invited him to a private tryout.

A focus on the international market might also be a way for the Astros to bridge the player acquisition gap, as hinted at by their reported June agreement to sign Pedro León.

The Astros may find a pitcher after the second round, available around the mid-70s (Houston’s first pick in the June draft), that mirrors their current top prospect, Forrest Whitley.

Schmitt Happens

Casey Schmitt, a 6’2″, 200-pound San Diego State junior, may end up being another creative, value-added pick that just might allow the Astros to make the best of a punitive situation, gaining in essence, two players in one.

MLB.com lists Schmitt at #76 in their 2020 draft prospect rankings, while College Baseball Daily puts Schmitt at #92 on their top 100 countdown. Schmitt has been displaying an alluring and legitimate hitting and pitching combo since high school, doing both right-handed.

He’s considered the top two-way college player in the nation, tackling both third base and the closer role.

Schmitt was born March 1, 1999, and was raised in San Diego, California. He attended suburban Eastlake High School in Chula Vista. Hitting .500 as a junior with seven home runs, Schmitt also came out of the bullpen regularly as the team’s closer.

As a senior, he was rated as the third-best outfielder and 45th player overall in California in 2017 while leading the Titans to their second straight CIF championship game.

Ruling the Aztec Empire

Schmitt became the first San Diego State player to be named Baseball America‘s freshman first-team All-American since 2007, when current World Series champ, Washington Nationals’ Stephen Strasburg was so named.

Schmitt set the Aztecs’ single-season ERA record in 2018 with a 0.28 mark (minimum 30 IP) as a freshman. He finished the season with 25.1 consecutive scoreless innings and 26 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run.

Driving home his two-way dominance, Schmitt was one of two players in the country to have driven in 25 or more runs while also turning in an ERA of 1.00 or lower (minimum 15 IP), holding Mountain West Conference hitters to a piddling .116 batting average (seven-for-60).

In his sophomore 2018 campaign, Schmitt gained second-team all-conference recognition after finishing second on the Aztecs with a .315 batting average, a .415 OBP, with five home runs, and 36 RBIs. Adding closer to his resume mid-season, he made 21 appearances with four starts, posting a 3-3 record and a 3.77 ERA in 43 innings, with a team-high eight saves.

At one point in the season, Schmitt became the first individual in conference history to earn both Player of the Week and Pitcher of the Week plaudits in his career.

“We Have To Be Very Careful”

“We’re very careful with what we do,” SDSU head coach Mark Martinez told the San Diego Union-Tribune recently about how he monitors Schmitt’s two-way regimen. “It’s frustrating for him because he wants to play the game.

“We won’t let him throw across the diamond in certain drills. He gets frustrated with that, but we have to be very careful.”

The kid gloves approach used to handle Schmitt was known clear across the country when he played for the Cotuit Kettleers in the Cape Cod League in the summer of 2019. A strict innings limit was the byword for Kettleers manager, Mike Roberts.

At one point, Schmitt had reached his 21-inning stop sign, and Roberts made sure to clear it with Martinez before another pitch was thrown.

That high-leverage summer inning turned out to be the ninth frame in the Cape Cod League championship game. Spoiler alert: Schmitt closed out the victory after having previously homered twice in the game. Schmitt, predictably enough, earned playoff MVP for his Herculean efforts.

Mound Arsenal & Plate Ammo

Schmitt features a fastball-splitter combination, delivered with a clean and easy delivery. He can get his fastball up to 94 mph on a regular basis, with little control issues.

He’ll throw his splitter in the upper 70s, occasionally hitting 80mph with it. His Cape Cod competition showed scouts he had the ability to miss bats with that pitch.

From the batter’s box, power is Schmitt’s best offensive tool, something he also proudly displayed while with Cotuit, as he homered five times with the Cape Cod wood bat.

That dinger figure equaled his total during his sophomore year with San Diego State. Defensively, he’s more than solid with the glove at third base, with what has been called a plus arm.

Scouting Grades (20-80 grading scale):

Hitting: Hit 45 | Power 55 | Run 40 | Arm 60 | Field 50 | Overall 45

Pitching: Fastball 50 | Splitter 50 | Control 50 | Overall 45

Split Schmitt?

As MLB.com reports, “There is a bit of a split in the scouting industry over liking Schmitt as a hitter or a pitcher. He does have more upside as a position player, and if he hits enough to continue getting to that raw power, he could leap up boards as a third baseman in the spring.”

Which brings us to the Astros, and how they might move this June regarding Schmitt. Houston’s system-wide coaches would have to be fully committed to the multi-tiered development, training, and the juggling of his two positions to draft him with a two-way intent.

If Houston truly perceives his upside is to the position player Schmitt may project to be, they may have little motivation to draft even a promising third baseman, their organization infield depth being what it is.

But, if they see his value as a pitcher, their interest may be piqued, at least right off the bat. It’s generally agreed that it’s easier to turn a pitcher into an effective hitter than vice versa, although transitioning from one to another has proven challenging to most.

Just ask Rick Ankiel, the former Astro (2013) who spent his first five years as a pitcher with the St. Louis Cardinals at the turn of the century, before switching to the outfield in 2007. Ankiel, with no “traditional” history as a two-way player, was merely attempting to re-purpose his career.

JD Davis, once the closer for Cal State Fullerton, was drafted as an infielder by Houston in 2014 and only pitched in a couple of blowout mop-up innings for Houston before being traded in January 2019 to the New York Mets, for whom he’s exclusively played third base and left field.

Now comes word that Jose Bautista, 39-year-old former 15-year MLB veteran infielder/outfielder, wants to return as a pitcher for someone, after not having played since 2018.

Astros on the Clock

Keep an eye on how and where San Diego State plays Casey Schmitt as the collegiate year progresses. He had meniscus surgery on his right knee in January but was fully healed by mid-February.

So far, after starting 14 games at 3B (through March 6), Schmitt is hitting .288 in 52 ABs, walking seven times to 11 strikeouts, with the second-lowest OPS among starting Aztecs, at .713, and the third-lowest slugging percentage (.346). Three doubles are his only extra-base hits.

Meanwhile, following his previous SDSU routine of closing after starting games in the field, Schmitt has collected six saves in 9.2 innings, turning in a 4.66 ERA, yielding 11 hits, and a walk, with seven Ks. His BAA is a too-high .289 for a closer, with a 1.30 WHIP.

In a March 6 game vs Oklahoma that perfectly reflected his two-way potential, Schmitt finished with two hits to help lead the Aztec offense to a 5-4 win. He finished with a season-high three RBIs while coming in to close the game in the ninth, getting the save.

How his season shakes out for the Aztecs will largely determine if anyone pulls the trigger on a potential two-way player, or if Houston sees only a pitcher possibly worth drafting.