Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports
SCOTTSDALE — There are pitching concerns, which has developed early. There are defensive worries for a team that struggled out of the chute last year. There are plenty of solid camps from Giants hitters, which likely will be a strength of the club.
And there are two increasingly evident standouts, one at the plate and one who has made a strong case that he should be in the rotation.
Gabe Kapler was asked Thursday if there’s a Giant who’s especially impressed him through more than four weeks of camp and 17 Cactus League games, and he didn’t hesitate.
“[Mauricio] Dubon really stands out as a player that’s made significant adjustments to his approach,” the manager said of the center fielder/shortstop. “Last year, he improved his walk rate relative to his career norms. And I think that you want to see it again, you want to see that continue. And he’s demonstrated that he can stay more balanced now than he was able to stay last year, stay in his legs more, have a more calm approach to play.”
In his first 47 plate appearances last year, Dubon drew one walk and struck out 12 times. He was the wrong type of anchor on the lineup, and the Giants worked with him specifically on pitch selection. For his next 130 plate appearances, Dubon slashed .304/.383/.429 and emerged as a legitimate major league center fielder.
Everything the Giants asked, Dubon did. So they asked him to put on weight this offseason to boost that slugging percentage, and so he went from 168 to 180 this offseason, he said, and has shown an explosive bat. It’s also a patient bat.
He hasn’t connected for a spring homer yet — a sore point — but the 26-year-old has walked nine times in 30 Cactus League plate appearances. He’s struck out three times, and a .517 on-base percentage will play.
Kapler said last year, his at-bats could be short. That’s no longer a problem.
“He’s driving the baseball more. I think his legs are more underneath him, and with throws across the diamond and his athleticism in center field,” Kapler said before the Giants lost to the Mariners, 6-3, at Scottsdale Stadium. “He’s just taken a lot of feedback over the course of the last calendar year and applied it very well.”
As has Logan Webb. Speaking of spring stats that will play, his 0.00 ERA over six innings is pretty solid.
The 24-year-old hasn’t been touched this spring after a disappointing season last year, when he often showed major league stuff but didn’t have the best feel for how it should be organized. He is emphasizing his offspeed pitches thus far, which in turn has made a 93-mph fastball more effective.
His changeup — which was deadly last year, too — has been on display, with 10 strikeouts in his six frames. Giants catcher Curt Casali paid the pitch about as big a compliment as he could muster.
“I had the pleasure of catching Luis Castillo for the past three years in Cincinnati, and he’s got probably one of the most devastating changeups and well-known pitches in the game,” Casali said Wednesday. “And I saw Logan’s change for the first time, and I told him point-blank: I was like, ‘It’s just as good, if not better.’”
For context, that is Hulk Hogan admiring your muscles.
Webb hung around Kevin Gausman all last year and is again the Giants ace’s catch partner, absorbing every lesson he can from the big righty. It took Gausman years to find himself after being a No. 4-overall pick, and he said Webb probably learned more this offseason than during last season.
He, too, called out Webb’s changeup and said it “could be one of the best in the game.” Seemingly with every outing, Webb is gaining confidence.
“When you see a kid that realizes how good he could be — I don’t think he’s necessarily there yet, where he realizes how good he can be — but you can definitely see the steps that he’s taking,” Gausman said over Zoom. “He just looks more confident and sure of himself.”
With Alex Wood recently undergoing a back procedure that will jeopardize the start of his season, Kapler has suggested Webb is in position to open the season as one of the Giants’ starting five.
The way he has pitched, there are indications he could stay there for a long while.