Mired in a slump, Fitzgerald optioned to Triple-A Sacramento

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Giants optioned slumping second baseman Tyler Fitzgerald to Triple-A Sacramento and reinstated right-hander Justin Verlander from the paternity list following the club’s 9-5 win over the Red Sox on Sunday.

Fitzgerald, 27, has been San Francisco’s starting second baseman and hit .284 with a .773 OPS and two home runs over his first 25 games of the year, but he endured a setback after landing on the injured list with a left rib fracture on May 1. He missed 13 games before returning to action, but he struggled to regain his offensive rhythm, batting only .186 with a .472 OPS over his last 32 games.

The Giants held Fitzgerald out of their starting lineup on Thursday and Friday to try to give him a bit of a mental break, but he couldn’t snap out of an 0-for-11 skid against the Red Sox this past weekend, twice laying down a pair of sacrifice bunts instead of swinging away on Sunday. His offensive woes were also starting to bleed into other parts of his game, most notably on the basepaths, where he ended up running into several costly outs despite ranking in the 97th percentile in sprint speed this year.

“When I talked to him, he was like, ‘I get it. I need to go down there and get some at-bats and get some confidence back,’” manager Bob Melvin said Tuesday. “Last year, when that happened, he went down, and he went off. He came back up here, and he was good. Sometimes with younger players, when they struggle some, it’s a little bit harder, especially for a guy that's had a lot of success. … But he’s still a big part of this team. He just needs to go down there and get some confidence back and have some success.”

Fitzgerald showed he can do damage during his breakout rookie season in 2024, when he logged an .831 OPS with 15 home runs and 17 stolen bases over 96 games, so his demotion could be intended to give him some time to reset and work on finding his swing again.

With Fitzgerald now in the Minors, the Giants will likely lean on a Brett Wisely-Christian Koss platoon at second base for now. Casey Schmitt has been filling in for the injured Matt Chapman (right hand sprain) at third base, but he seems likely to take over as the starting second baseman once Chapman is ready to come off the IL in the coming weeks.

Schmitt, 26, has certainly made the most of his opportunity to play every day, as he went 4-for-4 with a home run on Sunday and is slashing .415/.478/.732 with four homers and 12 RBIs in 12 games since Chapman’s been out.

“He’s playing great,” right fielder Mike Yastrzemski said. “I think he’s really coming into his own. I think he needed a little bit of maybe pressure applied to him in terms of a little extra motivation. Sometimes when you get your back pushed against the wall, you come out swinging. That’s what he’s done.

“I don’t think he has tried to fill Chappy’s role, and I don’t think anyone has expected him to. But for him to play the way that he’s playing right now … And he’s playing through some stuff. He fouled those balls off his shin [on June 15 against the Dodgers]. He wasn’t feeling great. He’s been really gritty, and he’s taking some really, really good at-bats. It’s been huge to have that production from him. Just to see him with that confidence is awesome.”

The Giants are hoping they won’t have to go without Chapman for much longer, as the five-time Gold Glover was cleared to resume swinging off a tee and begin throwing again on Tuesday. He plans to continue rehabbing at the Giants’ Minor League complex in Arizona when the team heads to Chicago later this week, and said his goal is to return by the final series before the All-Star break, which will come against the rival Dodgers on July 11-13.

Verlander and his wife, supermodel Kate Upton, welcomed their second child -- a boy named Bellamy Brooks Verlander -- last week. Verlander didn’t miss a start while on paternity leave and will have his next chance to finally collect his first win for the Giants when he faces the Marlins in Tuesday night’s series opener at Oracle Park.