Versatile, newly acquired Brett Wisely making strong push for SF Giants’ roster

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — As the youngest of seven siblings, Brett Wisely has experience with a little competition.

Perhaps, then, that is why Wisely, 23, has been one of the San Francisco Giants’ breakout stars of the first week of Cactus League games. Looking to put himself first in line when a middle-infield need arises, whether that is on Opening Day or later on, Wisely has already slugged two home runs in four games, played second base and shortstop, and impressed San Francisco coaches with his “genuine” hard-working attitude.

“There’s no entitlement there,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “He wants to earn it. It’s not a BS mindset.”

That attitude can be traced back to Wisely’s childhood in Jacksonville, Florida, where everything was a competition with his six older brothers and he had to work hard, or else little brother would be assigned all the chores. From ping pong to pool, Wisely said, “I hated losing.

“Because if I lost, I had to take out the trash or do all the chores. Winning meant everything. You win, you don’t have to do any chores.”

Between Brett, Alec, Ryan, Matt, Jordan, Chris and Daniel, the Wisely parents — Bob and Kelly — had their hands full. In addition to their household competitions, all seven brothers played baseball growing up — 12 years separate Brett from his oldest sibling — and Brett wasn’t the only one to make it pro.

Brett was drafted out of Gulf Coast State College (Panama City, Fla.) by the Rays in the 15th round in 2019. That same year, the second-youngest sibling, Alec, was selected by Cleveland in the 34th round out of South Florida (where he was teammates with Giants third baseman David Villar). While Alec was released after last season, he still acts as his younger brother’s biggest advocate — and batting coach.

“When I’m struggling, I always text him,” Wisely said. “Like, dude, I’m going through it. When I’m going bad, every swing I have, I send it to him. … It actually helps a lot. When I’m going bad, I send him most of my videos. … Just a big role model.”

So far this spring, there hasn’t been much to send him.

Starting at shortstop in his first game, Wisely laced a single for his first spring hit. Back at short two days later, he lined a home run over the right field wall. Continuing to showcase his power and versatility, Wisely made his next start at second base and homered again.

“He can turn on the baseball,” Kapler said. “The word ‘gamer’ is coming up quite a bit. That has a lot of different meanings in baseball, but in this particular case, when it’s coming from the cage, I think it’s really about being responsive to coaching, wanting to be in there and wanting to hone your craft. All good stuff for Brett so far.”

Ever versatile, Wisely owns four gloves. But, speaking to the Giants’ view of him, he’s only had to use two so far.

Wisely has played mostly second base throughout the minors but has logged time at all four infield positions and said all the moving around has made him “super comfortable at really any position,” even in the outfield, where he has also been taking reps this spring.

Good thing because Kapler said the Giants see Wisely “as a shortstop, then second base,” while his primary competition, Isan Díaz, “we see more second base, then shortstop.” Either way, Kapler said, “I don’t think there’s any question that those two guys are going to be instrumental to our success in some way.”

As currently constructed, the only players on the Giants roster who can play shortstop are Brandon Crawford, their projected starter, and Thairo Estrada, their projected starting second baseman. Another area that separates Wisely and Díaz: they would be the Giants’ only left-handed hitting infielders besides Crawford and LaMonte Wade Jr.

The Giants acquired Wisely last November, almost out of thin air. They turned a reliever who never threw a pitch for them, Trevor Rosenthal, into outfield prospect Tristan Peters in a trade deadline swap with Milwaukee, and when Tampa Bay couldn’t find a spot for Wisely on its 40-man roster, San Francisco sent Peters to the Rays in exchange.

When the Rays informed Wisely that he wouldn’t be getting a spot on their 40-man roster, he was resigned to spending another year in the minor leagues.

But he woke up one morning with a premonition, one that would prove true and put him in position to make his major-league debut at some point this season.

“The day I got traded, I woke up and I told my mom, like I’ve got a weird feeling that I might get traded today,” Wisely recalled. “She was like, don’t say that. And I said, I don’t know, something’s off today. And it ended up happening.

“Right now it still doesn’t feel real. It feels like I’m living a dream, which in a sense I am. Because this has been my dream since I was young.”