Brebbia seeking to keep it simple with pitch clock
GOODYEAR, Ariz. — Reliever John Brebbia has joined starter Alex Cobb as the San Francisco Giants’ pitchers most baffled by the pitch clock so far this spring.
Cobb abandoned plans to call his own game earlier this week when the timer — 15 seconds with the bases empty, 20 with men on — caused him to rush his preparations.
Wednesday, Brebbia struggled, especially with men on base, and Arizona stole three bases off him — including once when he froze as the clock wound down. Uncertain whether to step off or deliver a pitch, he did neither.
The message from pitching coach Andrew Bailey on Thursday morning: If ever in doubt just step off, even with the limited disengagements, two per batter.
“It’s good, because that’s something that’s super simple,” Brebbia said.
Like Cobb, Brebbia usually has good tempo — his 14.2 seconds between pitches thrown (which is typically 6-10 seconds longer than pitch-clock time) was second best on the team. But he found himself with a lot on his mind all at once in his first spring outing.
“With a guy on first, I’m sitting here holding, like, I don’t normally just step off,” he said. “So I’m thinking, ‘Let’s just try to pitch,’ and then trying to time it up with the clock instead of trying to get fancy and trying to pick off someone during spring training.
“And then I’m thinking, ‘I’ve got my slider call. I want to work on this and try to get this type of break. Right, I want to throw it here. Oh, shoot, there’s one second left.’ I threw five pitches yesterday where I was like, ‘I’d rather not throw this right now.’ ”
Brebbia doesn’t want to rush a pitch and miss his location, so stepping off makes sense. But if he does that every batter, he realized, his outings might be longer than ever. “Based on my times last year, I was going to have zero problems with the clock,” he said. “I would never take 14 seconds before pitching. Why was I consistently running into the limit?”
Manager Gabe Kapler said that all of this was to be expected at the start of the spring.
“I think he’s going to be fine,” Kapler said. “It’s not unusual, we see a lot of pitchers having some difficulty adjusting. We’ve got to control the running game both with the clock and with how quick we are to the plate. We want all these things to teach us lessons, and that’s what’s happening.”
Briefly: After the fourman catcher battle between Joey Bart, Roberto Perez, Austin Wynns and Blake Sabol, Kapler said the area with the most competition is probably the final bullpen spot. … Assuming the team keeps all seven starters, with Jakob Junis and maybe one other working in bulk inning roles out of the bullpen, the team needs six more relievers. That means: Camilo Doval, Taylor Rogers, Tyler Rogers, Brebbia, Scott Alexander and likely Sam Long or, if healthy, Cole Waites. But non-roster invitees Erik Miller and R.J. Dabovich are among those who could find themselves in the mix with good springs. … Tristan Beck went three innings Thursday and allowed four hits, a walk and three runs and he struck out three. … Anthony DeSclafani, who’s coming back from ankle surgery, will make his spring debut Friday, starting against Colorado at Scottsdale Stadium.