How much are Giants learning about future?
Webb is growing as a pitcher, but veterans get more playing time
Every time Giants rookie right-hander Logan Webb takes the mound, the franchise gains a little more confidence the 23-year-old will be a key part of the club’s rotation for years to come.
Through three starts in
2020, Webb is 1-0 with a 2.13 ERA and 10 strikeouts, but it’s more than just the hard data that’s giving the Giants reason to remain optimistic about the Rocklin native’s future.
Webb has made all three of his appearances after Giants losses, and in each start, he’s overcome
adversity to help lead the team to much-needed wins.
“He’s pretty fiery and tenacious,” manager Gabe Kapler said after Webb’s recent win at Coors Field. “Even though he pitched a really solid game in this ballpark in this game against a really solid lineup, I still felt like he has more in the tank, and you know what? We feel like he has more in the tank.”
Webb started Monday in Houston and once again is tasked with helping the Giants bounce back from a tough loss. The Giants and the team’s fans have begun to look toward Webb’s starts with a sense of excitement, because they’re watching a young pitcher develop and grow in front of their eyes on major league mounds.
If only fans felt that way more often.
Webb is the only pitcher to make a start for the Giants this season under the age of 29, and in a season in which the organization was expected to emphasize player development and create opportunities for inexperienced talent, it feels as if the franchise could be doing more.
Kevin Gausman, 29, and Drew Smyly, 31, were intriguing free agent additions this offseason, but because both pitchers signed one-year deals, it’s unlikely either is a long-term fit in the Giants’ rotation. Waiver wire acquisition Tyler Anderson, 30, could be a low-risk, highreward pick-up and contribute to the team’s staff for the next few seasons, but given his age and track record, Anderson seems like more of a
swing man than a lock to hold down a job in the rotation for years to come.
Any fans expecting the Giants to evaluate the organization’s promising starting pitching prospects during the second half of the season will beoutofluck.
The Giants’ No. 5 prospect, left-hander Seth Corry, and No. 10 prospect, right-hander Sean Hjelle, didn’t receive invitations to join the summer player pool and are working out at home. Five other starting pitchers ranked among the franchise’s top 20 prospects by MLB.com, Kyle Harrison, Nick Swiney, Blake Rivera, Gregory Santos and Tristan Beck, are still likely years away from their potential big league debuts.
Kapler and Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi have learned a bit more about possible contributors to the team’s lineup in 2021, 2022 and 2023 this season, but not as much as they likely would have during a normal year featuring a 162game schedule and a full minor league slate.
Most of the Giants’ promising talent is working together at the team’s alternate site in Sacramento where top prospects including Joey Bart, Marco Luciano and Hunter Bishop are being given regular opportunities to face Triple-A and in some cases, major league-caliber arms.
Intrasquad scrimmages are a wonderful opportunity for prospects at different ages such as Bart, 24, and Luciano, 18, to bond before eventually hitting near each other in the Giants’ 2022 or 2023 lineup, but the cancelation of the minor league season is costing the organization chances to see unheralded prospects (think Mike Yastrzemski)
emerge.
Speaking of Yastrzemski, the great debate has already started as to whether he’ll still be a mainstay in the Giants’ outfield when the team is able to seriously contend for division titles again. The second-year outfielder turns 30 in two weeks, meaning the late-blooming slugger could be 32 or 33 and aging out of a full-time role when highly touted prospects such as Luciano, Luis Toribio and Alexander Canario hit the big leagues.
The same goes for Alex Dickerson, 30, who is an obvious asset against lefthanded pitchers but has battled injury issues for much of his career that may not give him a chance to stick in an everyday role. Kapler opened the season thrilled for Austin Slater and Jaylin Davis to finally get regular opportunities, but Slater has so far only proved he’s a platoon option against left-handed pitchers while Davis was sent to Sacramento after just 12 at-bats this summer.
In the infield, the Giants were hoping Mauricio Dubón would emerge as a super utility type who could play shortstop, second base and then run out to center field as needed, but Dubón has had trouble driving the ball this season and has been overtaken on the depth chart by 32-year-old journeyman Donovan Solano.
Solano’s .455 batting average is a remarkable testament to his work ethic and contact skills, but it’s hard to envision Solano sustaining this kind of performance into next month, let alone the 2022 season.
It’s assumed Evan Longoria, Brandon Crawford, Brandon Belt and even Wilmer Flores will likely be off the
roster when the Giants are contending again, so their at-bats will show the Giants much more about the team’s chances to sneak into one of the last playoff spots this year than what it can expect in the years ahead.
Zaidi and Kapler did commit to a lengthy list of unproven pitchers in the bullpen, but teams tend to piece together their bullpens on a year-to-year basis because relievers burn out so quickly. Trevor Gott, Caleb Baragar and Rico Garcia all have solid fastballs and the tools to become or, in Gott’s case, remain high-leverage options, but the Giants also have a number of relief options struggling at the outset of the season.
The one position where the Giants can begin to receive immediate feedback about a player with the potential to become a future star is catcher, where Bart can move into a significant role whenever the franchise’s top decision-makers see fit.
So far the Giants have been reluctant to consider Bart an option at the major league level because he has fewer than 100 at-bats above Double-A, but with no minor league season this year, the clock is ticking.
In an ideal season, the Giants would be cycling through more players, sticking with inexperienced talents in longer stints who can theoretically play a role on future contending teams and paying close attention to developments taking place in the minors.
The year 2020 has forced everyone to make adjustments, and so far, those adjustments aren’t opening up a window into the Giants’ future the way many had hoped.