TEMPE, Ariz. — Logan Webb made tidy work of his two scheduled innings in his exhibition debut Tuesday. Then he became an eager spectator on the dugout rail.
As much as Webb is looking forward to joining Team USA’s star-studded roster next week, he’s just as enthused by the way his fellow San Francisco Giants pitchers are competing in the early stages of spring training. And that includes the right-hander who followed him on Tuesday against the Los Angeles Angels at Tempe Diablo Stadium.
Webb didn’t want to miss a moment of Landen Roupp in the third inning.
“Roupp, I got an extra soft spot for him just because I feel like we throw very similar,” Webb said. “We have a competition going with who can get more horizontal (movement), or vert on the changeup, or stuff like that. So I really enjoy watching him compete. He’s kind of cut from the same cloth that I am. He’s ultra-competitive, and it’s just good to see him back out there.”
Webb retired six Angels batters in order, including Mike Trout, and struck out four. Roupp looked just as dialed in while striking out two and issuing one walk in his inning. Whether it’s their Opening Day starter or someone like Roupp who is looking to cement rather than win his place in the rotation, or the non-roster players hoping to claim a bullpen role, or even the minor leaguers summoned from Papago Park to fill out the exhibition rosters, the Giants have gotten consistently clean mound work while winning their first four exhibition games.
Ever since Hayden Birdsong’s five-run first inning in the Cactus League opener against Seattle on Saturday, Giants pitchers have allowed five runs in 35 innings.
It’s more important than ever for Webb to be on point with his pitches early. He’ll have one more exhibition appearance with the Giants before he joins his Team USA teammates for the World Baseball Classic. (Conveniently, the team will hold its workouts at the Giants’ Papago Park complex.) If the Americans achieve what they expect and advance past their pool in Houston, then Webb would be lined up to start twice in the international tournament.
“I’m gonna see it through. I’ll be there the whole time,” said Webb, who wouldn’t confirm when he is starting but appears lined up to face Brazil in the first pool play game on March 6. “I want to be there the whole time with the guys.”
It might have seemed like overkill when Team USA manager Mark DeRosa campaigned hard for Webb to join a staff that already included reigning Cy Young Award winners Tarik Skubal and Paul Skenes. But it’s a good thing DeRosa remained so persistent. It’s looking like Webb will be much more important to Team USA’s WBC ambitions than you’d otherwise expect from a No.3 starter.
That’s because Skubal revealed that he will only pitch in one pool play game before returning to the Detroit Tigers. There’s also uncertainty around the availability of the fourth starter on DeRosa’s staff, Minnesota Twins right-hander Joe Ryan, who missed his first exhibition start because of lower back inflammation.
Future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw is also on the roster but he’s hardly expected to be a workhorse; the WBC is his final event before he rides off into retirement and his participation is likely limited to non-leveraged relief innings.
So Webb’s participation will be more vital than ever.
At the same time, he’ll have to be ready to take the baseball before anyone else. The MLB season kicks off March 25 in San Francisco, with Webb slated to start against the New York Yankees in the schedule’s only game.
If Team USA advances, it would play a quarterfinal game March 13. The semifinals are on March 15-16 and the final is scheduled for March 17. So Webb could start either the quarterfinal or semifinal game and have enough days on the calendar to make an additional exhibition appearance prior to the season opener.
“Everything that the Giants had laid out for him, it’s almost on par with what’s going on,” Giants manager Tony Vitello said. “There’s one day that flips. I think it’s an added day in there. Otherwise, it’s the same schedule he’ll be on with us. … Skubal will do his thing for an outing and I like the U.S.’s chances in that one. And of course, whenever Webby’s got the ball for them, we’ll have it on in here and be cheering like we were for the (Olympic) hockey match.”
Webb didn’t have anything bad to say about Skubal, who is an impending free agent and is one healthy season away from a monster contract in free agency. It’s a risk-reward calculation that Webb had to make three years ago, when he declined an invitation to pitch in the WBC because he was weeks away from signing a five-year, $90 million contract.
“Look, I’m not in his shoes,” Webb said. “I’ve got three years left on my contract. He doesn’t. He has one year, and then he’s got to be a free agent. … His team and his agents and all of them came up with this plan. It’s his life, his career. He can do what he wants.”
Webb might need to have a conversation with Aaron Judge, though. His face fell when asked whether he was in the group chat with Judge and several other WBC players that pinged constantly as the USA men’s hockey team took Canada to overtime in the gold medal game at the Winter Olympics in Italy.
“Ahhh, that must be a hitter one, because I was not on that,” Webb said, smiling. “But I am on a pitcher one, and yes, they were talking about how exciting it was to watch. But I was not in Aaron’s. I’ll have to ask him about that.”
Webb had no plans to ask about the clearly glitchy data stream on MLB Gameday that recorded his second pitch against the Angels, a two-seam fastball, at 111.8 mph.
“That’s legit,” Webb said, smiling.
“Ahhh,” Roupp said. “I saw that. He won’t get that one by me, I promise.”
Roupp confessed that he’d check the pitch analytics from Tuesday to see if his changeup was getting more movement than Webb’s.
“Absolutely,” Roupp said. “It’s a constant conversation every day. I always tell him my changeup’s going to be better than his one day. That’s what I’m striving for. But I think I got him on the velo today.”
Roupp’s knee is fully healed from his scary incident last season, when he hyperextended it on the mound at San Diego and was carted off the field as a precaution. He’s experimenting with a cutter and increasing his four-seam fastball usage at the top of the strike zone — the same two wrinkles that Webb incorporated last year while leading the NL in strikeouts for the first time.
“He tells me all the time I want to pitch just like him,” Roupp said of Webb. “I think it’s kind of funny, because who wouldn’t want to be? To throw the way he does, and throw as many innings and stay as healthy as he does? So that’s the way I look at it: if I can get 30 starts, it’s closer to being who I want to be.”
If Webb has anything resembling a regret at leaving for the WBC, it’s that he won’t be in camp to watch this group of Giants pitchers continue to try to establish themselves.
“It’s been fun to watch all these young guys come out here and really just show their stuff,” Webb said. “It’s a big emphasis this year with (assistant pitching coach) Christian Wonders. These guys like stuff first, and then we get to the other stuff. I keep saying stuff! But yeah, that’s the goal. And then these guys are just — I’m gonna say it again — showing their stuff. It’s been fun to watch.”