Giants pitchers experience culture change
Kapler and staff save Cueto, make pointed tweaks to others
SAN FRANCISCO >> Under first-year manager Gabe Kapler and a young coaching staff, the Giants spent much of spring training in Arizona convincing their pitching staff to change routines, reconsider their potential roles and rethink the ways they approach hitters.
Johnny Cueto, who was named the Giants’ opening day starter shortly before the coronavirus pandemic shut down baseball, said he was largely exempt from those discussions.
“No, no, no, nobody talked to me,” Cueto said through Spanish-language interpreter Erwin Higueros. “I’m an old horse. I’m old, I know what I’m doing on the pitching mound. What can they tell me that I don’t already know? This is something more directed to the younger pitchers.”
During February and March, the Giants wanted Tyler Beede to throw more offspeed pitches, expected Dereck Rodríguez to make mechanical tweaks that would increase his fastball velocity and asked Logan Webb to prepare to throw multiple innings in stints as a starter and reliever.
The team’s less-experienced pitchers weren’t the only ones taking pointers from a staff with four pitching coaches under the age of 40. The Giants hoped 13-year veteran Jeff Samardzija would be willing to throw more breaking balls in the early innings of starts and showed free-agent signee and eighth-year right-hander Kevin Gausman ways he could maximize his splitter.
Cueto, with 296 career starts un
der his belt, was instructed to continue doing what’s made him successful.
Since undergoing Tommy John surgery in August 2018, Cueto has made fewer than 10 starts in nearly two years. The primary concern the Giants had for the right-hander was ensuring he remained healthy throughout the spring. By mid-March, Kapler had seen enough life in Cueto’s arm to name the two-time All-Star his opening day starter.
A four-month layoff during the pandemic kept Cueto from stressing his arm, but he didn’t spend his time back home in the Dominican Republic, sitting on his couch. Cueto continued his rigorous workout regimen and routinely faced former Giants teammate and current New York Mets infielder Eduardo Núñez in live batting practice sessions.
“As you know, we were teammates here with the Giants so he would call me and he would say ‘get ready to pitch to me on Wednesday,’ ” Cueto said. “He knew that I would throw every five days, so I would tell him ‘no, no, you come ready because I’m going to strike you out.’ So obviously you saw from the video that he didn’t make any contact and the contact that he made was just foul balls.”
Cueto said he feels strong enough to handle whatever workload the Giants expect from him, and acknowledged that he hopes to again be named the opening day starter for the abbreviated 60-game season. Kapler said he’ll hold off on tabbing Cueto to face the Dodgers on July 23 until he sees a few more bullpens, but noted the veteran held an intense long toss session at Monday’s workout.
“His arm and his legs are in great shape,” Kapler said. “He was out to 300-plus feet really getting after it and he came back in and had a flat ground session with (bullpen catcher) Taira (Uematsu) where he was delivering all of his pitches with intensity and focus.”
Despite lingering concerns over the coronavirus and his family’s health, Cueto said he is committed to playing this season because he’s already flown into San Francisco from the Dominican Republic.
As he prepares for the regular season, Cueto may not be told how often he should throw his changeup or when he should shimmy during his windup, but he’ll still have plenty of adjustments to make.
The health and safety protocols designed to keep major league players safe will be hard for everyone to follow, but particularly for old horses who have never known another way.
“For us pitchers, it’s going to be difficult because we have our habits,” Cueto said. “We’re used to spitting, we’re used to putting our fingers in our mouth. It’s going to take time for us to get used to these new rules. Very hard.”
Opening in Los Angeles
The Giants will open with a four-game set against the Dodgers on July 23 and play all 10 of their matchups against Los Angeles within the first 32 games of the season.
The season opener from Dodger Stadium will be broadcast on ESPN and is one of only two games scheduled that day, following a matchup between the Yankees and Nationals.
The Giants’ original schedule included interleague matchups against American League Central teams, but MLB opted to make significant changes to the schedule with the goal of reducing travel. The new schedule will send the Giants on the road for interleague series against the Angels, the Houston Astros, the Seattle Mariners and the A’s.
The Giants will end the season with a seven-game homestand that includes four games against the Colorado Rockies and three against the Padres.
• Two members of the Giants organization received positive test results for COVID-19 on Monday, but Kapler declined to provide specific details as to whether the positive tests came from players, coaches or others who are subjected to regular testing.
• Kapler said left-handed pitcher Conner Menez impressed in Monday’s workout and showed off improved fastball velocity from spring training. Kapler highlighted Menez, right-hander Tyler Cyr and lefty Sam Selman for their work in live batting practice on Monday and indicated Menez and Selman are both in the running to make the opening day roster as lefthanded relief options.
• Top prospect Joey Bart was “a pro behind the plate,” during Monday’s workout while outfielder Joe McCarthy received praise from Kapler for strong at-bats.