Beede working his way back to rotation
When Gabe Kapler arrived in Scottsdale for his first spring as Giants manager last year, he opened up competitions for jobs and gave several young players extended opportunities to prove they belonged on the Opening Day roster.
During the early days of Cactus League play, it’s possible no pitcher helped their stock in Kapler’s eyes as much as Tyler Beede. Beede emerged as a frontrunner for a spot in the Giants’ rotation, showing off a mid-to-high 90s fastball and a dynamic curveball that made him a prime breakout candidate.
His luck quickly turned. By the middle of March, Beede required season-ending Tommy John surgery. His chance to finally prove the Giants were wise to use their 2014 first-round draft pick on the Vanderbilt product was delayed.
This spring, Beede isn’t a candidate to open the 2021 season in the Giants’ rotation, but only because he’s still rehabbing from surgery. The right-hander threw his third full bullpen of the spring Friday at Scottsdale Stadium and is slowly progressing toward having the opportunity to remind the Giants why they were so excited about his potential.
“The fastball with some carry through the zone, sitting in the low-90s, it was very encouraging,” Kapler said.
In a medical update the Giants provided last week, the team said it expects Beede to be throwing off the mound in games at either the major league or minor league level by May. Kapler said it’s too soon to rule out
the possibility Beede might face hitters during spring training, but it appears unlikely given his recovery timetable that Beede would pitch in a Cactus League game.
If Beede is healthy enough to rejoin the rotation by June and pitches like he did last spring, he could be an X-factor for a Giants staff that features several other starters looking to bounce back after dealing with injuries last season. Few have as much potential as Beede, which makes his progress worth keeping an eye on.
WEBB HIS HARSHEST CRITIC >> Another right-handed starter the Giants expect to take a step forward this year is Logan Webb, who didn’t need to look at the box scores from his rookie season to feel disappointed in his performance.
Webb had some bright spots in a 2020 season in which he made 11 starts for the Giants, but he dealt with considerable command issues, finished with a 5.47 ERA and felt he needed to get right to work in Tempe, Arizona during the offseason.
His new catch partner? Former A’s reliever and a World Series champion closer with the Nationals, Sean Doolittle.
“Being an old A’s fan, I got to see all of these old A’s guys and pick their brains about everything,” Webb said. “It was cool to talk to him about his experiences, being a World Series champion.”
Webb is planning to increase the usage of his offspeed pitches and expects to throw strikes more consistently this season after making subtle tweaks with his arm slot ahead of the 2020 season. Now that he’s accustomed to throwing from his new arm angle, he’s optimistic about his chances of improving.
“It’s my job and my goal to be consistent with that and get those numbers down and be able to come out every fifth or sixth day and be able to succeed and do what I’m supposed to do,” Webb said. “(Last season) was a little frustrating, but I can’t dwell on that.”
Webb also said he’s working with Codify Baseball, an independent analytics group that creates personalized “heat maps” that aid pitchers in the game planning process. Fellow Giants starter Kevin Gausman recommended the Vacaville-based firm to Webb. MORONTA ANSWERING THE CHALLENGE >> Reyes Moronta boasts a 98-mile per hour fastball, a devastating slider, a career 2.66 ERA and has struck out 11.2 batters per nine innings over his two-plus year career.
With that résumé, it’s no surprise Moronta’s name has been mentioned prominently this offseason as one of the candidates to secure the Giants’ closer job. Yet after missing the entire 2020 season while recovering from a 2019 shoulder surgery, Moronta enters camp in a similar spot to Beede and Webb.
There’s plenty of potential and plenty to prove.
“I feel really good this year,” Moronta said Friday. “I felt healthy last year, but the team felt they didn’t want to overwork me so they held me back for my well being.”
Moronta was under consideration to return to the .iants’ roster late last season,
but with his velocity sitting around 94-to-95 miles per hour and his conditioning not where it needed to be, the club elected to keep him at the Sacramento alternate site.
Kapler and the Giants’ staff challenged the 5-foot10, 265-pound right-hander to improve his conditioning early in the winter and so far, the manager likes what he sees, noting that Moronta improved during the second half of his bullpen Friday.
“One thing we know and we’ve talked about this a lot over the last couple of years is that weight is not necessarily the best way to measure conditioning,” Kapler said. “What we want with Reyes, and with all of our players, is for them to be able to move their bodies well in the activities in that they have to perform.”
Moronta is among the many pitchers working on improving their delivery times as he’s struggled to hold runners on base in his career. He’s also dealt with command issues early in appearances as he’s issued 25 leadoff walks in 132 appearances, so holding runners and limiting stolen bases could make him an even better high-leverage option for the Giants. TRISTAN BECK DRAWS ATTENTION>> During Friday’s workout, the Giants had 11 pitchers (all right-handed) throw bullpens. Two of the top starting pitching prospects the team invited to camp, Matt Frisbee and Tristan Beck, happened to be scheduled at the same time and at opposite ends of the bullpen, creating quite a conundrum for Kapler.
The Giants’ manager hoped to watch both prospects closely, but ended up seeing more of Beck, a Stanford product who was acquired in the 2019 trade that sent Mark Melancon to the Atlanta Braves.
“Really good curveball, excellent composure, loose and easy delivery,” Kapler said. “Looks like a fluid major leaguer on the mound. Flashed two plus pitches. Fastball with good life and that curveball.”
Kapler said he was particularly intrigued by Beck’s curveball because he said the the 24-year-old seemed dissatisfied with the result of the pitch each time he threw it. That reaction was surprising to Kapler, who thought Beck was locating the breaking ball well throughout his session.
Kapler and Beck ended up discussing the pitch after Beck’s bullpen and the manager was told the righty wasn’t thrilled with the shape of his curveball, even if he was landing it for strikes. That interaction offered Kapler some insight into Beck’s competitiveness, which was a welcome sign early in camp. CASALI RECOVERING FROM SURGERY >> Kapler said free agent signee Curt Casali hasn’t caught any bullpens yet as he’s still recovering from a December surgery on his hamate bone in his left hand.
Casali, who signed a oneyear, $1.5 million deal with the Giants in January, had the operation before he inked his contract with San Francisco and the team has no concerns that he’ll miss Opening Day.
With Casali temporarily sidelined, Buster Posey, Joey Bart, Patrick Bailey, Chadwick Tromp and Ricardo Genoves have been catching the team’s bullpens.