All-Star Crawford rewarded for hitting work

During batting practice at Oracle Park last week, several Giants players and coaches took the field wearing T-shirts that said, “Let The Old Guys Play.”

No player better embodied the spirit of those T-shirts than Brandon Crawford, who is in the midst of a career season in his 11th year in the Majors.

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“I think they’re just more funny than anything,” the 34-year-old Crawford said. “We as veteran guys still have a lot to offer, not just from a baseball standpoint, but experience and showing some of the younger guys either the right way to play the game or tips here and there about the game at this level. I think that’s what every team needs. I had it coming up, and I think it’s pretty important.”

The 2021 All-Star Game at Coors Field on Tuesday night served as a showcase for baseball’s exciting crop of young stars, with 22-year-old Vladimir Guerrero Jr. crushing a 468-foot bomb and 27-year-old Shohei Ohtani dazzling with his two-way prowess, but Crawford was right there alongside them representing the best team in baseball.

Crawford made his third All-Star appearance when he replaced National League starting shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. -- who is 22, like Guerrero -- in the top of the fourth inning. Crawford played three innings on defense and popped out against A’s right-hander Chris Bassitt in his lone at-bat in the sixth.

Crawford likely welcomed the opportunity to continue to draw extra reps over the break, as he’s currently riding a nine-game hitting streak that lifted his batting average from .248 to .289 this month. The MVP of the first-place Giants, who ended the first half with an MLB-best 57-32 record, Crawford has also posted a .921 OPS with 18 home runs, leaving him three shy of matching his career high of 21.

Crawford’s renaissance is even more impressive considering he hit .228 with a .654 OPS and 11 homers over 147 games in 2019. The down year suggested Crawford was past his prime, but he’s reached a new peak after making some adjustments at the plate with the help of Giants hitting coaches Donnie Ecker, Justin Viele and Dustin Lind, who were hired by manager Gabe Kapler ahead of the 2020 season.

Crawford realized he was hitting too many grounders to the right side in '19, so he went into his first meeting with the Giants’ new hitting group with an open mind. Together, they focused on cleaning up Crawford’s bat path and making a few other tweaks to put him in a better position to lift more balls off the ground. He has a more open stance now and is holding his hands farther away from his body, which has helped him keep his bat through the zone for as long as possible.

“This game is about making adjustments as a hitter because pitchers are always going to adjust to try to find your holes,” Crawford said. “I think just maintaining a consistent bat path and direction back toward the middle of the field -- no matter how a pitcher is approaching you, it’s going to be a pretty good approach to whatever they’re throwing.”

Buster Posey and Kevin Gausman were also named National League All-Stars this year, though neither saw action on Tuesday. Posey was voted the NL’s starting catcher, but he elected to skip the trip to Denver to focus on rehabbing a left thumb injury. Gausman, a Colorado native who grew up 30 minutes away from Coors Field, was unavailable to pitch after starting against the Nationals on Sunday.

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“It would have been really cool to pitch here, for sure,” Gausman said Monday. “It probably would have been really emotional, to be honest. But this game doesn't really mean anything. It sounds bad to say, but we're trying to win the pennant. ... We're playing good baseball right now, and I think that's all that matters. It's not about being selfish, it’s about putting the team first. I’m starting the first game back, so this really isn't a break. It’s kind of a quick realization of the season I’m having, and then back to work.”

Kennedi Landry contributed reporting from Denver.