Webb starts again, Crawford makes debut
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. >> After the final pitch of his second spring start, Logan Webb turned his back and began walking off the field. The groundball he induced was headed straight for Brandon Crawford, the surehanded shortstop making his first start of Cactus League play.
“I knew he was going to get it,” Webb said. “It's always good to have him back there.”
Four games into the Cactus League schedule and two weeks away from Opening Day, Crawford was the first member of the Giants' veteran-laden infield to see game action this spring. Likewise, with three innings Wednesday in a 5-3 loss to the Diamondbacks, Webb is the Giants' only starter to throw more than two innings, too, with three-fifths of their rotation still waiting to make their spring debuts.
In two at-bats, Crawford struck out and lofted a deep fly out to center field. After spending the first two weeks of camp working in the cage and taking swings against Giants pitchers in live batting practice, he is still in the stage that comes every spring of perfecting his timing at the plate.
“For me it's usually a matter of getting at-bats,” said Crawford, who posted the highest WAR of his career (6.1) in his age 34 season last year. “You feel more and more comfortable with the swing, the more confident you are with your timing...Hopefully I get enough at-bats there that I feel comfortable going into the season. I'm pretty confident that I will.”
With 12 Cactus League games remaining, Crawford said the plan is for him to play in about eight of them. Among the key Giants still waiting to make their spring debuts: third baseman Evan Longoria, first baseman Brandon Belt and Alex Cobb and Anthony DeSclafani; lefthander Carlos Rodón will make his Cactus League debut today against his former team.
Of all the in-house arms he faced over the past week, Crawford managed to avoid any live BP reps against Webb.
Veteran's privilege.
“I try to avoid Logan,”
laughed Crawford.
WEBB FEELING HIS SLIDER IN SECOND OUTING >> In five innings of work between two spring starts, Webb has struck out 10 batters.
On Wednesday, it was his slider that was working as his best out pitch, after almost exclusively using the changeup to get swings and misses in his first outing. Webb whiffed another five batters in three innings Wednesday, settling down to limit the Diamondbacks to one run after encountering some trouble in the first inning.
“Honestly I felt better this one than the last one,” Webb said, adding that the slider “felt way better today.”
“I was actually really excited about how it was moving,” Webb said.
Still, he hasn't heard anything from manager Gabe Kapler about starting Opening Day — not yet, at least.
“Honestly it's more of my family asking what day I'm throwing,” Webb said. “Whatever day I do throw, it doesn't matter to me. There's a bigger end goal than that.”
FANTASY FOOTBALL PUNISHMENT >> There were two new bat boys on the steps of the respective dugouts Wednesday at Scottsdale Stadium: Austin Slater and Steven Duggar.
The two Giants outfielders — and, importantly, fantasy football co-owners — were sporting their home creams, only on the back, their name and number had been replaced with a large, black “L.” As in last place. Or loser. Nobody was really sure, except for the fact that the Slater-Duggar team finished last in the Giants' internal fantasy football league last season, earning them the prize of bat-boy duty Wednesday.
“You don't want to get last place,” said Crawford, the league commissioner, who came up with the punishment. “There's incentive to win, for sure, and incentive not to be in last place.”
The champions: athletic trainer Dave Groeschner and team surgeon Ken Akizuki, whose prize was a little more traditional — a large sum of money. The runner up: Webb. “I think it it was the first text Groesch sent me when the lockout ended, something about that,” Webb said. “During the championship, we weren't allowed to talk to them (because of MLB's lockout), so I knew it was coming at some point.”