New reliever McGee will be a candidate for the closer job
When the San Francisco Giants officially announced they signed left-handed reliever Jake McGee to a twoyear deal with a club option for the 2023 season Wednesday, it gave them a potential front-runner for a closer job that’s up for grabs this spring.
“He’s a nice candidate to close games for us,” manager Gabe Kapler said after the Giants’ first spring workout in Scottsdale, Ariz. “Based on how many strikes he threw last year, how many bats he missed, he just did the things you expect out of a late inning guy like miss bats and throw strikes. He’s dependable; he’s been doing this for a really long time.”
McGee’s addition also gave the Giants another southpaw who relies heavily on a fourseam fastball for success.
McGee joined a staff that already includes Caleb Baragar, who emerged as a consistent bullpen option for the Giants as a rookie last season thanks in large part to a fastball with a spin rate that ranked in the 92nd percentile of all major league pitchers.
Baragar threw his fastball 74.5% of the time last season and didn’t allow a run from Aug. 16 through the end of the season. In his final 16 appearances, the rookie lefthander picked up 14 strikeouts and only allowed seven hits as he was a catalyst behind the bullpen’s second half success.
What made Baragar, who was fairly predictable, so tough on hitters? A fastball that he said has 21 to 22 inches of vertical break.
Few pitchers in baseball threw their fastball more often than Baragar. No one came remotely close to throwing a fastball as much as McGee.
In 24 games with the Dodgers last season, the left-hander tossed 320 fastballs and just 10 sliders. Hitters knew exactly what was coming, yet McGee still posted a 2.66 ERA and struck out a career-high 14.6 batters per nine innings.
What might surprise fans about McGee is his fastball only ranked 47th percentile among major league pitchers in spin rate last season, but he said Wednesday he’s able to keep hitters’ barrels
away from the ball because his version of the pitch breaks both horizontally and vertically.
“The game is evolving analytically with all of the spin and the craziness with that and if you don’t learn that, it’s going to be part of everything else,” McGee said.
Having a pair of lefthanders who mostly throw mid-90s fastballs might seem redundant for the Giants, but the pitches have different spin characteristics and don’t move the same way. Opposing hitters may not see both pitchers near the end of games, either.
Kapler announced Wednesday that Baragar asked for and will receive the opportunity to be evaluated as a starting pitcher this spring. With the Giants shy on left-handed rotation options and Baragar only one year removed from an excellent season as a member of the Double-A Richmond starting staff, the club is eager to see what he can accomplish if he’s able to use his curveball and slider effectively.
It’s possible the experiment won’t work and Baragar will end up back in the bullpen, but for now, the Giants are excited to see if he can provide some muchneeded rotation depth. CUETO WANTS MORE >> It was no secret Giants righthander Johnny Cueto wanted to pitch deeper into games last season, but the veteran right-hander struggled with location, finished 2020 with a 5.40 ERA and didn’t appear to see eye-toeye with Kapler.
On the first day of spring training, Cueto again announced he wants the chance to pitch deeper into games and is hopeful that the coaching staff will be receptive to the idea now that he’s an extra year removed from his Tommy John surgery in 2018.
“As you all know, as a starting pitcher, we want to throw as many innings as possible, but I’m not 100% sure what the plan is with the manager,” Cueto said through Spanish-language translator Erwin Higueros.
As the 35-year-old enters the final season of his sixyear, $130 million contract with the Giants, the team is counting on him to throw every fifth day. The Giants should have their best roster since Cueto’s first year with the club when he started the All-Star Game for the National League and will need him to bounce back from a rough season to fortify a rotation that includes several other pitchers including Kevin Gausman and Anthony DeSclafani who can become free agents next winter.
• Kapler said he spent most of Wednesday’s workout watching pitchers throw bullpens, including righthander Logan Webb who was a clear standout from the day. One assistant said Webb had the best bullpen of any pitcher and the Giants are hopeful that with improved command in 2021, a starter who is just 24 years old will be able to realize more of his impressive potential.
• For fans interested in jersey numbers, here’s a list of all the new members of the 40-man roster and which numbers they’ll be wearing this season:
Tommy La Stella: 18; LaMonte Wade, Jr: 31; Curt Casali: 2; John Brebbia: 59; Alex Wood: 57; Matt Wisler: 37; Jake McGee: 17; Anthony DeSclafani: 26; Dedniel Núñez: 43; Jason Vosler: 32.
• Kapler said Buster Posey will likely get 50 to 60 at-bats this spring, and he’s already begun mapping out which games Posey will appear in during Cactus League play.• The Giants have not yet officially announced the signing of right-handed starter Aaron Sanchez, who agreed to terms on a one-year deal with the club on Tuesday evening. Sanchez has to pass a physical before joining the team. He missed the entire 2020 season while recovering from shoulder surgery.