Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski was in an unusual place Friday — in the batting cage at Oracle Park before a Giants game.
Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle
Brandin Podziemski says he’d like to try to play professional baseball, though he said that would come later in his basketball career.
Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle
Brandin Podziemski’s main long-range activitiy this summer has been practicing his three-point shot, though he took a break from that Friday in the Giants batting cage.
Jeff Chiu/Associated Press
If the Golden State Warriors didn’t have enough headaches heaped on their plate, here’s another one:
Brandin Podziemski, the Warriors’ prized rookie guard season, the youngster expected to join Stephen Curry in the starting backcourt, filling the Klay Thompson void, is already looking at another career.
Podziemski took batting practice with the Giants on Friday at Oracle Park, hit one into the bleachers, then told the Chronicle that he would love to take a shot at playing professional baseball.
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Fortunately for the Warriors, Podziemski didn’t sign with the Giants and get shipped to the minors. His baseball dreams are a bit down the road.
Stepping out of the cage after his mic-drop homer, Podziemski took a hefty swing at a softball question from the Chronicle, about giving pro baseball a try.
“I would definitely do something like that,” Podziemski said, dead serious. “Later on in my career, if I’m fortunate to still be playing in my late 30s, I would love to play baseball. I know my family, my dad especially, would enjoy seeing me play. That’s definitely something I’ve thought about, playing both.”
As you might have noticed last season, the kid they call Podz does not lack confidence. Call it a natural, easygoing swagger. Take Friday, for instance. Knowing he was going to take BP with a big-league club, with a high potential for embarrassment, you might think Podziemski would do some lead-up prep, take some air cuts in his apartment, get to the yard early and warm up in the cage under the stands.
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Nah. Podziemski said he hadn’t swung a bat in a couple of years. He took zero prep, chatted near the cage with Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper, posed for photos, huddled briefly with Giants hitting coach Pat Burrell, grabbed a bat and stepped into the cage.
Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski gets a hug from Giants broadcaster Duane Kuiper after Podziemski hit a home run during batting practice.
Jeff Chiu/Associated Press
He rocked a Matt Chapman jersey, basketball sneakers, and what looked like orange Giants boxer shorts. It’s an outfit that might not make the dress code at the coin-op batting cages.
Podziemski already had put pressure on himself, saying he — a lefty swinger — believed he could hit one into McCovey Cove. And he was already sideways with Kuiper, who heard that Podziemski quit baseball after the ninth grade because it was too easy.
“Listen, If you think baseball’s easy, you’ve never been hit by Nolan Ryan,” Kuiper fake-lectured Podziemski. (Kuiper noted that Ryan drilled him on three separate occasions back in the day.)
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True, Podziemski has not faced Nolan Ryan, but then Kuiper has not faced Alex Burg, the Giants’ bullpen catcher, who was throwing batting practice, 60 mph heat. That doesn’t sound like much, but Burg was dealing from 40 feet away, not 66, and in the late afternoon, the pitches were coming out of bright sunlight into deep shadows.
“That’s why I hate 5 o’clock games,” said one Giant leaning on the cage. “You can’t see the spin.”
Spin? Standing 10 feet behind the plate, I couldn’t see the ball.
First pitch, grounder to short, then liner into left. Ten pitches in the first round. Podziemski hit ’em all, although three were popped up into the cage.
Next round, 14 swings. A couple of nice deep drives to center. No pops or fouls. Swing No. 14, Podziemski hit a drive high and deep to center that landed in the bleachers above the wall with circled numbers 24 and 30, honoring two other Giants power hitters.
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Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski celbrates his batting practice home run before Friday’s Giants game.
Jeff Chiu/Associated Press
“I’m impressed, man,” Burrell said. “I’ve been at this a long time, and to see a guy come out from another sport, and not swing-and-miss one time, and go deep? Pretty impressive. Obviously, he’s played quite a bit in his past.”
Podziemski didn’t seem impressed.
“I feel like if I would’ve pulled it just a little more to right, it would have been in the water,” he said.
The BP adventure brought a flood of memories to Podziemski. Like the day he told his father that he wanted to drop baseball and go full-bore into basketball.
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“He was really crushed,” Podziemski said. “We were on a car ride (home to Milwaukee) from Nashville, from a baseball tournament, and I just told him, and he was kind of in disbelief. How could I give up something I naturally had a gift at? I just told him baseball was too easy, it’s something I was naturally good at and I didn’t have to put as much work in as I do on the basketball floor.
“And me being the competitive person with the work ethic that I have, I wanted something that was always challenging to me, where if I took a couple of days off, I needed some rework, and baseball wasn’t like that. Basketball is something that inspires me to get better every day. It’s hard, and I embrace that challenge every day. … I told my dad if he let me do it that, I’d make him proud, and here we are today.”
Brandin Podziemski made contact with every ball thrown during his batting practice session.
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There we were, on a baseball diamond. But only temporarily. Podziemski said he took two weeks off after the season, and took a quick trip to Paris. Otherwise, all hoops.
“Never miss a day,” Podziemski said. On the court, in the video room, in the weight room, seven days a week.
A big emphasis this offseason is on his 3-point shot. The Warriors have told Podziemski they want him to be much more aggressive hunting 3s. He’s also working hard on his defense, so he can step into Thompson’s old role of guarding the other team’s best guard or small forward.
Batting practice was just a quick diversion from the hard work of a real sport. Podziemski was heading back to the gym. But someday …
Reach Scott Ostler: [email protected]; X/Twitter: @scottostler
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