SAN FRANCISCO–Chris Stratton wants to pitch every five days.
And with the way he’s thrown in his last two starts, the Giants rookie may one day have the opportunity to do so.
“This is an important time for these young players coming up,” Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy said. “There’s (Ryder) Jones, (Jarrett) Parker, Stratton, they’re trying to show that they belong here in the Major Leagues and they’re like all of us getting evaluated. And as we go into the offseason, it’s going to give us a better idea of where we’re at with these younger players and our needs so you’re hoping that these guys show that they can play here. That they’re ready to play here, and we don’t have to do something else because we can do this internally.”
The phrase Bochy used, “do this internally,” refers to the massive turnaround the Giants hope to embark upon beginning in 2018.
Though Stratton pitched well on Monday evening, throwing six shutout innings against a Milwaukee Brewers team in the heat of a playoff race, his effort helped San Francisco win just its 51st game this season. For a franchise that made pitching and defense hallmarks of its early 2010s dominance, Monday’s victory, which came on August 21, was the Giants’ first home shutout win of the season. They were the last Major League team to accomplish that feat this year.
So the fact that it was Stratton who earned the victory, just his third career win, says volumes about the depths to which the Giants have fallen this season. But at the same time, it also speaks volumes about the opportunity dangling in front of Stratton, who threw 6.2 scoreless frames with 10 strikeouts in his last outing in Washington, D.C.
“You just always want to be ready for anything,” Stratton said. “Just any opportunities that come my way, I’ll be ready for anything. If try to send me to the pen, I’ll still do the same thing. Try to get out there and put out zeroes.”
At this point in his career, Stratton still has to be ready for everything. He hasn’t earned the right to pitching every fifth day yet, and though his last three outings have all come in starts, he was initially called up this season to aid the Giants as a reliever. And with Johnny Cueto expected to return to San Francisco’s rotation sometime within the next two weeks, Stratton may still find himself in the bullpen before the end of the season.
In the meantime, though, Stratton is doing everything in his power to force his way into the Giants’ future as a starter. After Stratton’s second consecutive scoreless outing against a team in the playoff hunt, Bochy opined about the prospect of turning to a six-man rotation in the month of September, a concept he’s been reluctant to consider.
“I think it’s fair to say he can earn more starts,” Bochy said. “We’ll see where we’re at when Johnny comes back, if we want to skip somebody, or go to six-man, we have some options. Especially with where we’re at right now but when you have a guy throwing the ball the way Chris is, sure he’s going to go back out there the next start and we’d like to pitch him as much as we can. We’ve used him in the pen, we’ve started him and he’s shown some versatility to as you look into the future.”
Stratton’s start on Monday against Milwaukee came eight days after his last outing against Washington. Because a rainout postponed the Giants’ Friday contest in Washington, D.C. until Sunday, Bochy wanted to keep Jeff Samardzija on regular rest. Stratton hadn’t earned that luxury, so he took the ball in game one of a Sunday doubleheader, meaning his turn in the rotation was skipped on Wednesday.
It wasn’t the first time Stratton had dealt with irregular timing since joining the big league club. His first career start came with 30 minutes of advance notice, as Cueto was scratched from an early July outing with an inner ear infection. His next outing was a four-inning bullpen stint, and his second career start was delayed due to a pregame ceremony that ran long. So when wet weather forced a washout in the nation’s capital, of course it was Stratton who had his preparation affected.
“It’s definitely a little different, especially being in the pen, especially doing it last year and being around some of these guys,” Stratton said. “They’ve done a good job of kind of letting me know, hey you need to be ready here, this is the spot where you need to get loose and stuff and I think they’ve done a good job with helping me out with that.”
In his last two starts, Stratton has been more than ready. He’s overwhelmed teams competing at or near the top of their divisions, and he’s done it in different fashions. Against the Nationals, Stratton dazzled with 10 strikeouts thanks to an un-hittable curveball. Against the Brewers, Stratton changed speeds, and located his fastball, but only ended up with a lone punchout.
“Every game is different,” Bochy said. “His last game he really had a nice putaway curveball and it was a good one today but that’s a good hitting ballclub over there. Of course, the 10 strikeouts, they could hit too but he was pitching to contact and that’s what you want.”
After a turbulent first half of the season with AAA Sacramento that left him with an earned run average hovering above 5.00, Stratton’s recent stretch is now at the forefront of Bochy’s mind.
With Matt Moore and Ty Blach battling to prove they deserve a shot at a 2018 rotation spot, Stratton can begin to enter the conversation by continuing his torrid pace over the final five weeks of the season. At the very least, he’s forced Bochy to think about the possibility of using a six-man rotation, which is the first step in helping him achieve his dream of pitching every five days at the Major League level.
“I enjoy a five-day routine and sometimes it’s been 12 days, sometimes it’s been eight days,” Stratton said. “I’m just trying to stay ready each time.”