Alex Cobb pushed through a multi-day stomach bug, Sean Manaea recorded his first save, and Brandon Crawford and LaMonte Wade Jr. homered. But in the Giants’ 4-3 win over Arizona Monday night, San Francisco’s catchers were the ones who really stepped up.
The Diamondbacks, who have stolen the third-most bases in MLB this season, ran into three outs on the base paths without having swiped any bags.
Blake Sabol flashed the arm strength he’s been working on by nailing Geraldo Perdomo in the fourth inning. Then the precocious Patrick Bailey replaced him in the eighth inning and made his presence immediately known; the rookie caught Jace Peterson stealing and ended the game with a back-pick to first base.
“Our catching was as responsible as anything else for winning that game,” Giants manager Gabe Kapler said postgame.
The Giants planned their catching configuration several series in advance, anticipating the speedy Diamondbacks. To get Bailey a quasi off-day, Sabol started in the middle of a four-game set. They wanted to get their prodigal rookie behind the plate as much as possible.
As incredible as Bailey has been, San Francisco’s starter, Sabol made an impact, too.
Sabol made his best throw as a Giant to retire Perdomo in the fourth. Per MLB.com researcher Sarah Langs, Sabol delivered both his fastest delivery and fastest pop time to get into the throw.
The Rule 5 Draft pick has been able to stay on the roster all season mostly because of his strong, consistent left-handed power bat. But he’s also made tremendous strides behind the plate as a catcher.
The Giants’ staff is more comfortable working with Sabol now than they were in May. And while rotating as an outfielder, designated hitter and catcher, he’s found time to improve his craft with catching coach Craig Albernaz.
Between Sabol’s improvements, Joey Bart’s place atop the strike-stealing leaderboard (in limited time) and the elite work Bailey has done, Albernaz might deserve a raise.
“I guess Sabol’s been doing some plyo ball drills, working on his arm strength and quickness behind the scenes,” Cobb said. “It’s just different. When I’ve been used to his pop time and his arm strength. Whatever that was tonight was just different. His release time, everything. The accuracy of the throw, the life behind it. It just whizzed by my head.”
Sabol is catching runners now at an 18% rate, just a tick behind the league average of 20%. Bailey has blown everyone out of the water all year.
Bailey, meanwhile, put out two runners without ever leaving his knees.
In the eighth inning, right after subbing Sabol out, Bailey threw out Peterson with a perfect strike. Peterson, the former Oakland Athletic, was a perfect 10-for-10 before Bailey cut him down.
Bailey said postgame that the last time he threw a runner out from his knees was probably in high school. Even he has a tough time describing his unorthodox throwing style; he has a Patrick Mahomes-level rolodex of arm angles that he deploys based on where a pitch takes him. This one, a low-and-away Ryan Walker slider, kept him grounded.
That throw made him 19-for-49 (39%) catching attempted base-stealers. Nobody has thrown out more runners since Bailey debuted on May 19.
“Pat can really change the game with his defense,” Kapler said. “And there’s very few catchers around the game who can do that.”
The rookie ranks first among catchers in defensive runs saved and Fangraphs’ all-encompassing DEF stat despite catching the 29th most innings. In games Bailey plays, the Giants are 36-20 (.642), a winning pace behind only the Braves this year.
Yet it seems like Bailey hasn’t gotten enough hype as a Gold Glove candidate. Maybe a massive, game-ending defensive play would change that.
With two outs in the ninth inning and Manaea tasked with closing out the Diamondbacks, Bailey took matters into his own hands. Bailey and Wade — the first baseman — had made eye contact and nodded to each other when they realized Perdomo was taking particularly rambunctious secondary leads. They were on the same page the whole way.
As the Diamondbacks helplessly challenged the play, Bailey chomped on his bubble gum from home plate. The pickoff doesn’t go on his caught stealing résumé — a fact he very well knew postgame — but added to his already building lore.
The back-pick throw was the fastest successful pop time on a first-base pickoff in the Statcast era, per Langs. No catcher since 2015 has gotten someone out quicker.
As Kapler sat down for his postgame interview in his office, he asked some of the veteran reporters on the beat if they remember the last time a game ended on a back-pick. Nobody came up with a good answer on the spot. Since 1903, there have been 125 game-ending pickoffs. Just 42 have started with the catcher.
“Whatever Bailey does, nobody’s really surprised anymore,” Cobb said. “We’ve got two guys that are really special back there.”