STAFF TAKING SHAPE
Fifth-starter hopeful Beede, in spring competition with Webb, has setback with arm tightness while throwing curveball, will undergo scans
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. >> Giants manager Gabe Kapler sees his starting rotation beginning to take shape. You can pretty much pencil in Johnny Cueto, Jeff Samardzija, Drew Smyly and Kevin Gausman as starters one through four, in one order or another.
But the battle for the fifth spot is well under way. Right-handers Logan Webb and Tyler Beede each made their second appearances of the spring in a 6-5 loss to the Rangers, but only Webb pitched more than one inning.
That’s because Beede started to feel tightness in his elbow while throwing his curveball. Kapler said Beede will undergo scans Tuesday night, then get a prognosis.
Webb, regarded as San Francisco’s top pitching prospect, got the starting nod and pitched into the third inning. He completed his outing by striking out Texas left fielder Willie Calhoun on a changeup. Wandy Peralta finished the inning, and Beede entered to begin the fourth. But that was the only inning he threw on Tuesday.
Beede struggled to locate, issuing a walk to Blake Swihart and falling behind on Adolis Garcia. But he fed Garcia a steady diet
of 95-mph fastballs, then on a 2-2 count got him to chase at an offspeed pitch up in the zone for his one strikeout.
The final lines for the two fifth starter front-runners: Webb: 2 1/3 innings, 3 hits, 1 run (earned), 1 walk, 1 strikeout; Beede: 1 inning, 1 hit, 1 walk, 1 strikeout.
Webb said he may still be shaking off the spring jitters, admitting to being a little too amped on the mound and rushing his delivery.
“I was trying to work on some stuff in my lower half,” Webb said. “They don’t want me thinking about too much out there. Overall I felt pretty good out there.”
Webb’s one run allowed came on a solo home run by Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who took an inside fastball and hooked it down the rightfield line.
OFFSEASON IN ARIZONA PAYS OFF FOR WEBB >> The Giants opted not to send Webb to the Arizona Fall League after finishing 2019 with eight starts in San Francisco. But he spent his offseason in Arizona, anyway.
Webb worked closely with the Giants’ coordinator of pitching science, Matt Daniels, to overhaul his two-seam fastball and add a cutter to his repertoire. As part of that, Webb worked with weighted baseballs to add velocity.
“My fiancee’s here for school, so I wanted to be down here,” Webb said. “And it’s easy access to the field everyday, trainers everyday.”
He pointed to a couple cutters that he felt he left up, blaming it on the rushed delivery. Although it’s new to his repertoire, confidence isn’t so much the issue as simply refining the pitch.
“But overall I’m happy with the outing, especially with maybe not my best stuff,” Webb said. “I want to work on those things so I can be the best version of myself.”
AGGRESSIVE ON THE BASES, SELECTIVE AT THE PLATE >> Kapler has made it no secret this spring that he wants to emphasize the Giants’ baserunning, and he’s asked the team’s veterans to take a leading role.
Evan Longoria encapsulated exactly what Kapler is looking for when, on Brandon Belt’s flyball out to center field, he tagged up at first base and advanced to second. The next play, Buster Posey hit a sharp single through the middle to bring home Longoria.
“I thought Evan Longoria’s baserunning the second time through was excellent,” Kapler said. “Obviously the big tag up play, but then a really good jump on the single up the middle to score a big run for us. One of the themes that we’ve seen throughout camp is high quality baserunning, in particular from our veterans, which sets the tone for all of our young, impressionable players.”
At the plate, Kapler and the coaching staff have emphasized being “selectively aggressive.”
“That means when the pitch is not in the tunnel that we can drive, we’re going to lay off of it,” Kapler explained Monday.
In the fourth inning of Monday’s game, Zach Green made one of the best examples yet of that approach paying off, laying off a twostrike slider on the corner. The next pitch, he drove over the right-center field wall.
On Tuesday, we saw the other side of that coin. Steven Duggar didn’t give in to a 2-2 curveball from Rangers starter Jordan Lyles. But on the next pitch, he laid off a pitch on the corner and was rung up by home-plate umpire Kerwin Danley. POSEY ON THE MONEY >> Posey looks to be in midseason form behind the plate. Rangers runners challenged him twice, and he was up to the challenge both times — though it only resulted in one out.
After his single in the second, Adolis Garcia took off from first. He was halfway to second by the time Posey received the pitch, but Posey was already halfway
out of his crouch by then, too. In one fluid motion, he caught, transferred and fired a strike to Brandon Crawford to throw out Garcia on what looked to be a surefire steal.
In the fourth, Posey’s throw was so on-target that the crowd didn’t even realize the pitch had resulted in a walk, negating Posey’s bullet. They let the umpire have it as Blake Swihart jogged to first base and Isiah KinerFalefa stood on second, a would-be caught-stealing victim if not for ball four. FUNKY FRESH DELIVERIES >> They may not have known it when Yapson Gomez took the mound in the fifth inning, but the fans at Scottsdale Stadium were in for a treat. So too were the coaches in San Francisco’s dugout, apparently.
Gomez, 26, hadn’t pitched more than eight innings above A-ball, but he put on a show in his inning of work against the Rangers. Almost akin to Cueto, Gomez showed a variety of funky deliveries and even quick-pitched a batter.
“We had some excited coaches on the bench when Gomez came into the game,” Kapler said. “I haven’t seen all of the interesting antics, but that was certainly one of the highlights of the game.”
As the cherry on top, Gomez got a pair of punchouts and retired the side in order.
“It was a lot of fun for everybody in the dugout and I’m sure it was a moment he won’t soon forget,” Kapler said.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE GIANTS? >> The Giants are back under the lights tonight, with a pitching matchup deserving of primetime. We may get a preview of Opening Day, with Johnny Cueto slated to face off against Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers. Cueto is expected to go three innings, or about 45 pitches. Also penciled in to throw today are: Tyson Ross, Sam Coonrod, Jerry Blevins, Sam Selman, Dany Jimenez and Jandel Gustave. Hunter Pence will be back in the lineup at DH.