Friday was a banner day for Logan Webb and the San Francisco Giants.
The young ace inked a five-year, $90 million extension, keeping him with the Orange and Black through the 2028 season. The extension is well deserved for Webb, who has been one of the best pitchers in the National League during the past two seasons.
Ironically, it does come at a time where he’s probably been at his least effective since 2020. Webb has been knocked around a bit in his first three starts of the season, giving up four runs in each and four home runs total. As a comparison, Webb gave up just 11 and nine home runs in 2022 and 2021 respectively, and only gave up four runs or more in eight of this 32 starts last season.
So what’s going on? Webb told Papa & Lund on Friday that he thinks his pitch selection and variety has become a bit too predictable.
“I think there is a little bit of a different approach,” Webb said on KNBR. “I think the White Sox actually had a really good game plan and they did it really well. They had a couple hits that were a couple inches out of the zone. I had to look at that and say ‘maybe they’re key holing one area and that may be a place I’m throwing to a lot.’ So kind of switching that up.
“I thought I started doing that against the Dodgers. Except for the [Max] Muncy home run, I felt pretty good about the way I felt on the mound. Kind of mixing things up, throwing some fastballs. I wasn’t getting too predictable for what I was trying to do. I should have been out of the inning, I freaking booted the ball.
“It’s hard because you go off a report, and I did want to attack Muncy with sliders. He got to me. It was the fourth one I’d thrown, maybe I did a little bit against the White Sox too, maybe like I said, being a bit too predictable in some of the stuff. Getting back to the healthy mix of all my pitches, and maybe throwing a couple more four seams here and there.”
With his sample size now significant, there is little reason to believe Webb won’t right the ship. Plus, it’s not like Webb’s stuff isn’t still excellent. He struck out 12 hitters on Opening Day vs. a potent Yankees lineup.
Catch Papa & Lund weekdays from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. on KNBR 104.5 / 680 and streaming live on KNBR.com.