Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports
SCOTTSDALE — Logan Webb got the text from Andrew Bailey on Tuesday morning and knew what he was in for.
He had known previously it would be the World Series champion Dodgers. He had not known previously it would be Mookie Betts, Corey Seager and A.J. Pollock, a hell of a gauntlet for his first spring appearance.
“I think it’s cool I got to face them for my first time,” said Webb, opting to embrace rather than complain. “Being able to face that caliber guys and compete with them — it was a lot of fun.”
It was a lot more fun when a Pollock launch landed safely in glove of Mauricio Dubon on the warning track. There was one hanging pitch, but Webb looked promising in his first chance to try to win a rotation spot in the Giants’ 1-1, seven-inning tie with the Dodgers at Scottsdale Stadium.
Webb’s stuff had strong movement, and the 24-year-old was touching 94 mph with his fastball, which is encouraging. But he wants to minimize the fastballs this season and feature his secondary offerings more. He finally got Betts on pitch eight of the at-bat, a changeup that induced a pop-up, and Seager swung through another changeup for the second out. Gabe Kapler called the pitch “impressive.”
“This was certainly a Logan who came out with good stuff and then attacked the strike zone like we’ve asked him to do,” the manager said over Zoom.
“I thought everything was moving pretty good,” Webb said. “I was a little angry about the last pitch, but it’s just a loud out.”
Plenty loud. He hung the second pitch he threw to Pollock, and Webb thought it was a home run off the bat. Then he saw Dubon beginning to slow, and relief came over him as he retreated to the dugout, his day done.
Webb will have competition, which he said he welcomes. He appeared to have a grasp of the last rotation spot until Aaron Sanchez was signed and became the fifth veteran on an expiring contract to enter the mix. The Giants have a few length options who would make sense as either a sixth starter or a swingman out of the bullpen — Scott Kazmir, Shun Yamaguchi, Conner Menez and Anthony Banda — and Webb’s most likely destination seems to be the alternate site (at least at the start of the season) that will be Sacramento.
The changeup will be a big key to his spring and, he hopes, to his summer. Opposing batters hit .230 off the pitch last year, and cranking up its usage is part of the plan.
Webb has been working on “knowing what I want to do with it,” he said. “Knowing where I want to throw it. … The big thing is throwing it for strikes. That’s a huge thing I’ve been trying to do and just tried to bring that same mentality to the game today.”