This story was excerpted from Maria Guardado¡¯s Giants Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Giants two-way prospect Reggie Crawford took advantage of Single-A San Jose¡¯s day off on Monday to make a quick visit to Oracle Park, where he was spotted taking in batting practice alongside his uncle, Frank Vernusky.

Sporting a gray sweatshirt from the 2007 All-Star Game in San Francisco, Crawford took some time to chat about his path with the Giants, who selected the two-way standout with the 30th overall pick of the 2022 Draft. Crawford missed his junior season at UConn after undergoing Tommy John surgery, but he¡¯s back on the mound and at the plate now that he¡¯s healthy and in his first full professional season in the Giants¡¯ organization.

¡°It feels great,¡± said Crawford, the Giants¡¯ No. 9 prospect. ¡°Obviously, it was a long road filled with ups and downs like everybody says. But it¡¯s really good to be with a great group of guys in San Jose. It¡¯s an unbelievable culture from the coaching staff down. ¡­ I¡¯m just happy to be out there again.¡±

The Giants are being extra cautious with the 22-year-old Crawford, who is currently capped at two innings per pitching appearance. He¡¯s thrown nine innings in his first five starts, giving up five runs on nine hits while striking out 15 and walking three. He¡¯s also hitting once a week, going 4-for-16 with two doubles and a home run in four games at designated hitter.

Crawford, who bats and throws left-handed, played first base in college, but the Giants are limiting him to DH duties for now.

¡°Doing both is the baseball that I¡¯ve known for my whole life,¡± Crawford said. ¡°I know there¡¯s still a ways to go. That¡¯s the most exciting part because it¡¯s a learning process, whether it¡¯s on the mound or it¡¯s at the plate.¡±

Even with the rise of Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani, two-way players remain relatively rare around baseball, creating additional challenges for Crawford as he tried to map out his workload with San Jose.

¡°We pretty much have to come up with our own plan,¡± Crawford said. ¡°It¡¯s pretty much our own schedule because obviously pitchers have their schedule, hitters have their schedule, but I can¡¯t ultimately follow either/or on a daily basis because it¡¯s not the same. We¡¯re kind of rolling with the punches and learning week by week, day by day, what works and what doesn¡¯t work. I feel like we¡¯re really getting a good understanding of where we¡¯re at and what it¡¯s going to look like down the road.¡±

Crawford hopes he¡¯ll be cleared to take more swings as he ramps up his hitting progression, especially after launching his first professional home run with San Jose earlier this month.

¡°It was finally nice to feel one of those again,¡± Crawford said, smiling. ¡°Everybody was super pumped up for me. They gave me the silent treatment when I came into the dugout.¡±

Crawford is flashing impressive power on the mound as well, as he said his fastball has been sitting at 96-100 mph since coming back from the surgery. He¡¯s currently in the process of expanding his arsenal, as he¡¯s incorporated a changeup and is working to add more depth to his curveball and a few more ticks to his slider to better differentiate his two breaking balls.?

¡°I was 75 percent fastball up until like two starts ago,¡± Crawford said. ¡°There¡¯s a point where they can just sell out for the fastball and if they get fooled on the offspeed, they know the chances are a fastball is coming and it¡¯s going to be in that square. So that¡¯s what we saw. Now it's all right, maybe we spin a little bit more. Maybe we kind of bait them with a fastball that¡¯s a little bit more off the plate. Just stuff like that. That is very valuable. I¡¯m not losing sleep if I give up a home run because I learn from that. That¡¯s been really cool to see because I¡¯d rather see what¡¯s flawed and kind of tweak it from there.¡±