The San Francisco Giants enter the offseason with a number of young starting pitchers who are both exciting and unproven. Pitchers can break out of routines with the team and prove to be great assets in the bullpen and key rotation depth, much like Hayden Birdsong was in the first half of last year. But there are some pitchers who can show they’re not ready to contribute at the major league level, like Hayden Birdsong late last year.
As the Giants fumble around on the trade market, it appears that some of these pitchers may end up on the way out. But in the end, only Teng Kaiwei, who ranked last, failed to reach Scottsdale. The rest of the roster is out there, fighting for bullpen jobs, backup starting jobs and spots on the totem pole in AAA Sacramento’s rotation.
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Perhaps the biggest story of the Giants spring is the different paths we see these pitchers take. Trevor McDonald, for example, has been outstanding: In three innings, he has yet to allow a hit or four walks while striking out five. Birdsong, on the other hand, was a disaster: In his two outings, he allowed 10 base runners and eight earned runs while recording just four outs. And Brad Tidwell? He performed extremely well and looked like one of the team’s 13 best pitchers.
Two other young pitchers made just one appearance in Monday’s game, a 6-5 win over the Chicago White Sox as the Giants improved to 8-2 in Cactus League play. And, again, we see them taking very different paths.
Current starter Landon Rupp starts the game. Rupp was great in his first game of the year, and he was even better in this one. He struck out Chase Miedroth to start the first inning and then immediately struck out Luisangel Acuña to tie the first inning at 1-2-3. His second inning was just as strong: While he didn’t strike out any, he needed just 12 pitches to get the ball in order, inducing two grounders and a soft liner.
Rupp is like that, and it gives us reason to believe his spot in the rotation is safe, as it should be. He only had to throw 25 pitches to complete two perfect innings and be completely in control.
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Unfortunately, you can probably tell this is a less than happy set-up for things to come – another hand in the proverbial show for young pitchers. Next we go into the third inning with Carson Whisenhunt loading the bases. Whisenhunt went hot and cold in his first game of the spring, pitching a dominant inning but then falling apart the next. Unfortunately, in this game, he skipped the first act.
Whisenhunt allowed a single to Jared Kelenic on the first pitch he pitched, and unfortunately, the moment set the tone. He caught a rather soft grounder from Kelenic and hit it directly to shortstop. But with the Giants on the move, the ball found a hole for a bad-luck, good-sighted single.
That was bad luck, but the rest of the outing was self-inflicted. After striking out the next batter, Whisenhunt gave up Korey Lee’s first run at 106.3 mph. With two outs, Acuña drove in his second run with a 106.6 mph solo shot.
Still, Whisenhunt finished the inning and got the second. He led off with a double to old friend Lamont Wade and then a double from Lenin Sosa. There was immediate trouble. A sacrifice fly scored the third run, and then Kelenic hit again, this time without needing a change of gears to help him: He hit a 110.6-mph double — the hardest-hit ball of the day — to score the fourth and final run, which Whisenhunt allowed. He would strike out the next batter and exit the game.
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As in his first outing, Whisenhunt showed greatly improved speed and an inability to maintain it. Early in his game, he threw five fastballs in a row with an average velocity of 96.7 mph. On the other hand, his last five fastballs averaged just 94.9.
Ultimately, this had no effect on Whisenhunt other than an early increase in velo. He struck out just 28 of 46 times, and his signature changeup couldn’t be used as a weapon. He threw just nine pitches, resulting in four pitches, three swing balls, a foul ball and a double.
It’s still early. It’s not just Whisenhunt and Birdsong, it’s pitchers who are doing well. But we do see divergence in early progress.
Offensively, the Giants sent a B-squad to Camelback Ranch, and they did most of the damage in the third inning with a White Sox-assisted rally. The game started with back-to-back walks to Buddy Kennedy and Jesus Rodriguez. That led to Parks Harber’s big hit: an RBI double. Granted, it was a double that hit center fielder Acuña squarely, but as we’ve seen so many times this spring, it wasn’t caught at all. Harper, on the other hand, scorched it at 105 mph, so he should get some benefit from that.
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That only scored one run, but Christian Kos followed with a two-run single to end the three-inning run.
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After trailing 5-3, the Giants closed in on a small ball rebound in the sixth inning, with consecutive singles from Bo Davidson, Grant McRae and Jack Holden. Excitingly, Davidson and McRae performed absolutely brilliantly, hitting 110 mph and 106.5 mph respectively.
San Francisco tied the game in the eighth in the most unexpected way: a solo home run by Nate Furman. The second baseman brings a lot of skills to the Giants, but power certainly isn’t one of them. In 194 minor league games, he hit just 12 home runs.
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But he figured out a way to do it in the desert, with metrics you won’t see on many home runs in MLB games: exit velocity of 95.9 mph, distance of 365 feet and an expected batting average of .210.
They would take the lead in the ninth with another solo homer, this time from a slightly more expected source: Kennedy, who had his first big hit since arriving in training camp as a minor league free agent. That was enough to help the Giants win 6-5 and avoid the first game of the spring.
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Some more notes:
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Rodriguez’s game is very practical. He started at second base and later moved to left field for a few innings. The Giants didn’t use him as a catcher until they were traded to the Yankees in July, but have been using him in the field this spring.
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Victor Bericoto continued his stellar play with a resounding double in the leadoff to right field to make it 1-2.
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Speaking of starting in the outfield, Harrison Bader and South Korea’s Jung Hoo Lee were injured, and Luis Matos started in center field. It will be interesting to see if the Giants trust him, which would certainly open up a path to the Opening Day roster, which is necessary if the Giants want to keep him since he has no other choice. Matos, who has been swinging a hot rod this spring, is 0-2 in this game despite needing a very good defensive performance in his first out.
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Starter Jerar Encarnación in left field and reliever Tyler Fitzgerald continue their difficult springs. Both batters went 0-2, with Encarnacion striking out two at-bats and Fitzgerald striking out three. Encarnacion is 3-19 this preseason with seven strikeouts, no runs, and no hits; Fitzgerald is 2-17 with five strikeouts, no walks, and two doubles, although one of his hits was a popup that defenses ignored.
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Spencer Bivens burped. He allowed three hits, two walks and a solo home run in 1.2 innings, struck out one and threw 20 strikes in 35 pitches.
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Nick Majevicius, on the other hand, had a great day. He pitched 2.1 innings, allowing no runs, three hits, no walks, and no strikeouts.
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Darrion Smith came over from minor league camp and recorded a save with a perfect ninth inning and allowed one strikeout. This is always fun to see!
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The Giants didn’t use any power pitchers in this game: Whisenhunt gave San Francisco nine of the game’s toughest pitches. The hardest pitch by a non-Whisenhunt Giants pitcher was a 95.7 mph sinker from Bivens.
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The Giants’ five worst hits of the day: Davidson’s single (110 mph), Osleivis Basabe’s lineout (107.9), McCray’s single (106.5), Casey Schmidt’s single (105) and Harper’s double (105). Rodriguez’s single, Kennedy’s home run, Berry Cotto’s double and Harper’s grounder also passed the 100 mph mark.
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The Giants now take a break from Cactus League play to take on Team USA in preparation for the World Baseball Classic. The game will be played on Tuesday at 12:05 PM PT and you can watch it on ESPN. Tidwell is expected to start.