Kapler views Cahill as playing ‘meaningful’ role

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. >> Welcome to the fifth starter competition, Trevor Cahill.

Manager Gabe Kapler hasn’t indicated the Giants will even use a fifth starter at the beginning of the year, but if Cahill continues pitching like he did in Saturday’s 12-7 win over the White Sox, the club may have no choice but to see how he fares in the rotation.

“He’s in competition to play a meaningful role on our club,” Kapler said. “That could be as a starter from time to time, it could be as a multi-inning reliever, it could be as a guy who comes in and wipes out four right-handed hitters in a row.”

With fewer than three weeks to go until Opening Day, the Giants seemingly have a wide-open race for the final spot in a rotation that was likely to include Tyler Beede before the Vanderbilt product was

sidelined with an elbow injury.

After throwing three perfect innings with five strikeouts in his first start of the spring, Cahill — like Kapler — expressed an openness to a flexible role.

“I haven’t really thought about (the competition),” Cahill said. “I just pitch when I’m told to pitch. I’m trying to be ready for pitching through the dog days of summer. Whatever happens early on, I’m more worried about the end of the season.”

The Giants have a halfdozen pitchers vying for the last rotation spot behind Johnny Cueto, Jeff Samardzija, Kevin Gausman and Drew Smyly and they’re eager to explore all the options in spring camp.

Prospect Logan Webb has the most upside, but he’s tinkering with new pitches and will spend the 2020 season on an innings limit. Dereck Rodríguez and Andrew Suárez have spent extended time in previous Giants starting rotations, but both lost their jobs due to inconsistencies.

Veteran Tyson Ross is working to prove he’s healthy and back to the form he showed at the end of the 2018 season, but Cahill seems to have an edge if the Giants had to choose between the 32-year-old former A’s pitchers.

Cahill wasn’t effective in 37 appearances (11 starts) with the Angels last year, but Giants coaches have commented that his velocity is up a tick and it was easy to see why they like his curveball. The curve was Cahill’s best pitch in each of the last two seasons as he allowed a .196 batting average with the pitch in 2019 and a .145 batting average while throwing it in an impressive 2018 season with the A’s.

An astute Twitter follower, @androog, also pointed out that the spin rate on Cahill’s curveball ranked in the 96th percentile among major league pitchers last year and in the 98th percentile in 2018.

“Probably about two years ago, three years ago, I started throwing (the curveball) a lot more,” Cahill said. “It’s one of those pitches, today I was able to throw it for a strike, behind in the count, first pitch.”

There’s plenty of time for other pitchers to make an impression on the Giants’ front office and Kapler, but at the very least, Cahill’s performance to date suggests the club would be wise to give him a roster spot.

A COMPETITION, BUT FOR WHAT? >> Barring injuries to Giants starters, it’s difficult to imagine corner infielder Zach Green or first baseman/outfielder Darin Ruf carving out a spot on the team’s Opening Day roster.

The Giants have Brandon Belt at first, Evan Longoria at third and Alex Dickerson and Hunter Pence projected to platoon in left field, so there’s no obvious fit for either player. Yet as Green and Ruf take more at-bats, it’s clear they provide the home run and extra-base hit potential the Giants desperately crave.

On Saturday against the White Sox, the righthanded sluggers combined to go 5 for 6 with three home runs, four runs scored and 5 RBIS.

“Those guys are both swinging the bat really well,” Kapler said. “Ruf has really taken to a swing change, but I also want to give credit to Darin himself. The last couple of years in Korea, he’s been really good on his own.”

Ruf has spent the last three years crushing pitchers (especially lefties) in the Korean Baseball Organization and he’s returned to the states with a chance to seize an opportunity if one opens up with the Giants. There’s plenty to like about his opposite-field approach (he homered to the right field berm on Saturday) and his pitch recognition skills, so the Giants may look for ways to give him a longer look.

“I think over the last couple of years, my swing got kind of long and a little bit more horizontal,” Ruf said. “We’ve been working on staying long through the ball and getting more vertical, getting my momentum going toward the pitcher.”

At 33, it’s unlikely Ruf is someone who could play his way into a spot where he’s a key member of the team’s next core. At 26, there’s plenty of time left for Green to develop and become a regular starter at one of the corners.

With Green, the oft-injured Sacramento native is starting to prove he’s completely healthy after undergoing major hip surgery last year. After doubling off the wall against the Brewers in Friday’s game, Green hit the farthest home run this beat writer has seen in the last three seasons covering spring training games in Scottsdale.

Against White Sox closer Alex Colomé, Green sent a ball beyond the berm in left center field and into the trees lining the pedestrian walkway. A few conservative estimates put the home run around 450 feet, but it may have ended up traveling about 475 feet in the air.

The only home run that compares to Green’s? The one Ruf knocked over the batter’s eye 430 feet from home plate in the bottom of the eighth inning for his second blast of the day.