Kapler names Cactus League game starter, details bullpen plans

The man who started the Giants' first Cactus League game during last season's abbreviated spring training went on to become their Opening Day starter, too. Back to normal this spring, that's not likely to be the case again.

“I would say, don't read into this stuff, and I mean it pretty strongly,” manager Gabe Kapler said Thursday morning, shortly after announcing who would start their Cactus League opener (Saturday, 12:05 p.m. PT, at Cubs). “It's more just the way it worked out.”

The honor belongs to Tristan Beck, a 26-yearold righty out of Stanford who was added to the 40man roster this offseason.

Beck, a fourth-round draft pick by Atlanta in 2018, joined the organization at the 2019 trade deadline in the Mark Melancon deal and reached Triple-A last season, going 5-8 with a 5.64 ERA in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. Keeping hitters off balance with a mix of four pitches, Beck struck out 116 and walked 36 in 111 innings between Doubleand Triple-A in 2022, his first full, healthy season since being drafted.

“We see him as a future piece of our rotation,” Kapler said. “We've seen a lot of good stuff from Beck. He looks great. His posture looks good. His delivery looks good. He's throwing a lot of strikes. Ball's coming out good. So all of those things are intact.”

Beck is expected to start the year in the rotation at Triple-A Sacramento, which should also include Sean Hjelle, Kyle Harrison and Keaton Winn, a quartet of young starters who provide the Giants something they didn't have much of last year: upperlevel starting pitching depth.

With seven capable starters on their majorleague roster already, they hope there aren't many spot starts to be covered.

“Between Tristan and Sean ... I think you could see somebody coming up and actually making starts for us,” Kapler said. “Now, we have a pretty deep starting rotation as it is and we've got a guy in the bullpen who we expect to be somewhat built up in Jakob Junis. We'll see where we are from a health perspective three or four weeks from now.”

As for Saturday's spring opener? Well, somebody had to start it.

“It's a good opportunity for him,” Kapler said. “We feel he's level-headed enough to handle our first spring training game. While these are very much exhibition games, they're also opportunities for young players to get their feet wet.”

Scheduled to follow Beck are six other young arms: lefties Sam Long (working on his changeup this spring), Erik Miller (another Stanford product, acquired from the Phillies) and Daniel Tillo, and righties Nick Duron (another former Phillie), Trevor Hildenberger (a submariner) and Drew Strotman.

BULLPEN PLANS >> Scott Alexander worked his way back from injury and appeared in 17 games for the Giants last season, including one against his Santa Rosa-born brother, Jason, in Milwaukee. With his power sinker, Alexander posted a 1.07 ERA in those appearances and assured himself a role in this year's bullpen.

The Giants were careful with the lefty last season, but this year, he says he wants to be a full go.

“There's some mileage there,” Kapler said. “But he's ready to take the ball every day.”

Alexander told Kapler in their pre-spring player plan meeting that he wanted to take the ball 60 or 70 times this season, something he hasn't done since his first season with the Dodgers, in 2018, when he appeared in 73 games with a 3.68 ERA. In four seasons since, he's remained effective but made 76 total appearances.

What will normal look like?

Along with newcomer Taylor Rogers, who is expected to share late-inning duties with righthander Camilo Doval, the Giants have two relievers they can turn to for tough left-on-left matchups (and, when Luke Jackson returns, a righty who can get left-handed hitters out, as well). Two other lefties in the mix, Long and Thomas Szapucki, are among the candidates for the final spot in the bullpen.

“You could sort of see how Scott might take the earlier look and Taylor might take the later look,” Kapler said. “Being able to mix and match Taylor and Scott and the righties, so it's not the same dude every single day, that's a nice luxury to have . ... I feel very confident with Scott against left and right. Taylor, I think he's going to be better against lefties, but he's also closed games and wiped out three righties in a row and we have no problem putting him in to those situations.”