Carter Aldrete may not be the most well-known Giants draft choice from Arizona State this year, but he plays with the confidence of a top-10 pick.

Aldrete teamed with close friend and Giants first-round pick Hunter Bishop to form the Sun Devils’ version of the Bash Brothers. Although Aldrete grew up as a Giants fan, he carries the confidence José Canseco and Mark McGwire displayed across the Bay. Aldrete admires players who have swagger and points to Cubs middle infielder Javier Báez and Mets second baseman Robinson Canó as two of his favorites.

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“The reason I liked them is that they’re always confident and calm and have fun playing the game, and that’s how I want to be,” Aldrete, the Giants’ 15th-round selection, said over the phone this week.

Baseball and competition have been the center of Aldrete’s life since he was a kid. His father, Rich, is a former Giants minor leaguer who rose as high as Triple A in the Giants system and currently runs the Aldrete Baseball Academy in Monterey. His uncle is Mike Aldrete, the A’s first-base coach who hit .325 in 1987 for the Giants as part of a 10-year big-league career. The love of the game rubbed off on the second generation of Aldretes. In addition to Carter’s baseball success, his sister, Annie, was an All-American softball player who played at Tennessee and Cal.

“My whole entire life was based off of my childhood and just how my family raised me and raised everyone in our family,” Carter said. “Just competitive. Always competing around the house and wanting to be the best player and the best competitor you can be because when you get home from school, it doesn’t stop. You’re still competing with family members at all times.”

Mike says Carter displayed a fearlessness on the field at an early age when Carter was participating in his father’s baseball academy.

“I remember him being 8, 9, 10 and jumping in games with 14-, 15-year-olds and competing and no one taking it easy on him and I think that’s something that my brother instilled in him, not to back down from anything,” Mike said before an A’s-Orioles game this week. “He’s really embraced the challenge.”

That competitive drive fueled Carter’s success not only on the diamond but on the gridiron and the hardcourt his first two years at Monterey High School. He turned his focus solely to baseball his junior season and was ranked as the 12th-best high school player in California by Perfect Game coming out of high school in 2016. A firm commitment to Arizona State kept Aldrete from being selected in the early rounds, but he still heard his name called in the 37th round that season by the Red Sox.

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Aldrete joined an Arizona State team in transition, as the one-time Pac-12 powerhouse struggled to win games his first two seasons before turning in a solid 38-19 record this year. As a freshman, he started 55 games, hitting .270. As a sophomore, he was limited somewhat by nagging injuries but still hit .293 with a .373 OBP in 53 games.

Aldrete’s offensive game took a step forward this season as he established a career-high in home runs with nine and posted a .474 SLG. Last summer, the 6-foot-2, 205-pound Aldrete displayed impressive raw power in the Cape Cod League home run derby, which he won, beating out ASU teammate Spencer Torkelson.

Aldrete says the recent power surge has mostly been due to a natural maturation process.

“You know how to hit more and once you’re in the same league for three years and you know pitcher’s tendencies and you just get stronger, that all plays a factor in hitting the ball farther,” he said. “I’m glad I had more home runs than I ever had. I’m just going to try to continue that in my pro career.”

While Aldrete was still maturing physically in college, he’s been a leader on every team he’s played on dating back to high school. He intends to continue filling that role as a professional.

“I think leading comes naturally for me,” Aldrete said. “When it comes down to leading men, there’s a few things that I possess that (make) other men want to follow me and get in line, and they trust me. That’s the big thing is trust. Being a leader of Arizona State — and hopefully I can be a leader of the San Francisco Giants — is just a huge honor. To feel that trust in your team that they have in you as a leader, there’s no better feeling in the world.”

A vocal leader in the ASU clubhouse, Aldrete also led by example on the field, filling a variety of roles for the Sun Devils without complaint. A shortstop coming into college, Aldrete moved around the field, playing shortstop, second base, third base and left field. In his professional debut on Monday, he played first base and has since also seen time at second.

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Giants scouting director Michael Holmes says Aldrete’s versatility and clubhouse presence were significant factors in the team’s decision to select him.

“Obviously the family tree speaks for itself,” Holmes wrote in an email this week. “His versatility was definitely a draw for us and if you look at teams Farhan (Zaidi) has been part of in LA, that is attractive for us here in San Francisco moving forward. We are excited about not only what he can do but also what his potential is as far as bringing a lot of flexibility and versatility to a roster. Make-up is important to us and a big draw and Carter possesses those traits we were looking for in this year’s draft.”

When it comes to his role on a team, Aldrete leaves his ego at the door.

“I just want to be in the lineup and however I can help the team is how I’m going to get in the lineup,” he said. “So if it’s first base, if it’s second base, if it’s third base, doesn’t matter to me. I just want to be in there.”

Aldrete’s uncle Mike made a significant impact in his big-league career as a role player. He was one of the best pinch-hitters of his era, racking up a .777 OPS and nine home runs in 302 career pinch-hit appearances. Carter says he takes his uncle’s approach to the game on the field with him.

“I think (versatility) just comes with who we are as people,” Carter said. “Whatever the team needs, we’ll do. You don’t have to be the superstar or the everyday player. He’s taught me that you have to be ready.”

Says Mike Aldrete: “The one thing that my brother and myself believe — you just want your name in the lineup card. If your name is in there, you go play wherever they want you to play. Beats watching.”

Carter says his dad and his uncle offer advice but have been careful to let him be his own player. Mike says he is cognizant of not bombarding his nephew with too much information, choosing to his pick spots in the offseason to dole out advice. Mike says the biggest thing he and his brother have imparted on Carter is that those who succeed in professional baseball are the ones who learn how to overcome failure.

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“The people who can’t handle failure and can’t handle tough times aren’t long for this game,” Mike said from the A’s dugout at the Coliseum. “One thing we can tell him is, ‘Oh by the way, it’s going to happen.’ I don’t care who you are, every guy on this field, there was a couple times in their careers — minor league or big league — where they fell flat on their face. The guys that are still here are the guys that picked themselves up, dusted themselves off and came back fighting.”

Although Carter comes from a baseball family, he isn’t immune to being starstruck. A lifelong Giants fan, he says he watched the team regularly on TV as a kid. When he reported to the Giants minor-league facility in Scottsdale and learned that Giants postseason legend Travis Ishikawa was his hitting coach on the Giants AZL Black team, it added a whole new level of excitement to his transition to professional baseball.

“I’m like, ‘Dude, I grew up watching you play and you were the man,’” Aldrete said of his interaction with Ishikawa. “And now he’s the nicest guy ever. I played first base (Monday) for the first time and he gave me some instruction and was super cool. He just talked me through the whole game. That aspect was pretty cool.

“That’s all our team is talking about, like, ‘Oh my gosh, this guy hit some of the biggest home runs and he’s the nicest guy ever.’”

While Aldrete is enjoying playing for Ishikawa and living in his college home in the Tempe area, he’s hopeful of being sent out to short-season Salem-Keizer at some point this season. If he ends up with the Volcanoes, he’s likely to team up again with Bishop. Aldrete says the opportunity to play alongside Bishop and in the organization he’s loved since he was a kid is a surreal experience.

“Going back to your hometown team where your family’s played, it’s kind of a dream come true. Obviously I’m with my best friend in Hunter Bishop, so everything worked out perfectly,” he said. “I couldn’t be more excited.”

(Photo: Jacob Snow/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)