The Giants were riding a nice little wave with Casey Schmitt this season, and then his knee buckled on a routine play at first base. What looked like a scary but maybe-not-serious tweak turned into the exact worst-case outcome for a guy having a breakout year.
The first sign of trouble: Schmitt got sent for imaging on the left knee.
According to reporting on the injury, Schmitt hurt himself running out a single Monday night, making a wide turn around first before slamming on the brakes to scramble back to the bag. That hard stop is what did the damage. He was pulled from the game, and the Giants held their breath while he waited on MRI results.
Those results came back Tuesday night, and it's the news nobody in San Francisco wanted: a torn meniscus, and an IL trip that's essentially a season-ending placement given the typical 6-to-8 week recovery window after surgery for that kind of tear.
MLB Trade Rumors confirmed the diagnosis and IL move Tuesday night.
The timing stings on multiple levels. Schmitt was in the middle of a genuine breakout, hitting.271/.301/.483 with a career-high 21 home runs, 55 RBI and 9 steals across 409 plate appearances. This wasn't the utility-infielder version of Schmitt anyone knew from his first couple seasons — this was a guy forcing his way into the everyday conversation, and now it's gone in an instant over a routine hustle play.
It also comes at the worst possible spot on the calendar. The trade deadline is bearing down, and instead of Schmitt being a piece the Giants can plan around, they're now scrambling to patch the infield. Osleivis Basabe is getting the call up from Triple-A Sacramento to fill the roster spot, but replacing Schmitt's production isn't something you do with a waiver-wire fix.
For a Giants team trying to figure out whether it's buying or selling, losing a breakout bat for the rest of the year is the kind of gut-punch that tends to answer that question for you.