Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Among the many races being run in Giants camp, one of the more interesting is one that may not have a winner.
Gabe Kapler has left the door open to not naming a closer out of spring training for a team that does not have an established option. Tony Watson is the most veteran of the bunch and has closing experience, but the 34-year-old hasn’t had that role since 2017.
When Farhan Zaidi was in the KNBR booth last week, he mentioned Trevor Gott among the possibilities for the ninth inning. On Saturday, when Gott blew three 95-mph fastballs past Mike Trout, you could see why.
Kapler has said a reliever can “make it unequivocally clear” that he should earn the ninth-inning role through his performance. No one has yet, Watson not throwing his first bullpen session until Friday because of shoulder tightness and Gott with some command issues. But the stuff is there.
In the 27-year-old’s fourth inning at Scottsdale Stadium, he made Trout whiff three times on here-it-is heat. It’s possible the adrenaline washed off afterward, as he threw four quick balls to Brian Goodwin and then allowed a first-pitch single to D’Shawn Knowles. He did not have much trouble retiring two, though, to escape the spring danger.
“Every reliever’s goal is to be a closer at some point. That’s something that a lot of guys would enjoy,” said Gott, who was a college closer at Kentucky and in the minors, but hasn’t filled that role in a five-year MLB career. “They want me to be flexible like I was last year, and I’m to up that.”
The Giants have asked him to be ready in the third inning or seventh or ninth. To be ready for three batters or six batters. To be a weapon that can be deployed at any time, a righty with a solid fastball and curveball, which he is working on consistently landing for strikes.
“He was able to go through that part of the [Angels] linuep, and at the same time he had some command issues with a few batters and he has in camp,” Kapler said Saturday. “We’re going to really focus on maintaining his composure and that conviction with all of his pitches.
“If he’s consistent, he’s one of the better relievers in baseball.”
He’s also one of the few proven options the Giants are carrying — and one who can no longer be optioned. Gott and Watson can’t be demoted to the minors, making them the only two locks to be there for Opening Day. (Although Tyler Rogers has certainly separated himself among the option-able relievers.)
If the Giants choose a closer — which is not a sure thing with an organization that values flexibility and may not want to save its best reliever for a predetermined inning — Watson is the favorite. But his shoulder is an early red flag. It’s possible the Giants, as much as they can in 2020 at least, go for a matchup route: If a couple lefties are due up in the eighth, the southpaw Watson would get that inning.
For Gott, he doesn’t think the ninth-inning pressure would get to him, a pretty even-keeled pitcher who is “pumped up to go out and pitch just in spring training.” He’s open to anything.
“I think he has the stuff to pitch in any role,” Kapler said.