Giants manager Bruce Bochy announced the order of his starting pitchers for the first week of spring training to reporters on Wednesday in Arizona.
Madison Bumgarner will start Friday’s Cactus League opener against the Reds. He will be followed by Matt Cain, left-hander Ty Blach, left-hander Matt Moore, and Jeff Samardzija who will pitch on Monday. Blach is taking place of Johnny Cueto’s spot in the rotation as Cueto is still in the Dominican Republic taking care of his ailing father. Cueto is reportedly scheduled to arrive with his father this coming weekend.
If Bochy’s spring training rotation is any indication of what he is planning for the regular season (it likely is) then it would appear a slight tweak has been made from last year. Samardzija and Moore look to have swapped places in the three and four spots, giving the Giants an alternating lefty-righty-lefty-righty look in their first four rotation spots. Moore was incredibly impressive down the stretch for the Giants last season, and may well be their third most talented starter heading into 2017.
It’s not out of the question that the Giants could at some point have three left-handers in their rotation if Blach is able to edge out Cain for the fifth spot. Cain will have every opportunity to win that job, but like Moore, Blach was nearly unhittable at the close of the regular season. Prospect Tyler Beede remains on the outside looking in, but is scheduled to pitch after Moore in Sunday’s exhibition. Beede was incredibly impressive with Triple-A Sacramento last year posting a 2.81 in 24 starts while striking out 8.2 per nine innings.