© Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports
The first weekend of Giants spring training baseball took place in chilly Scottsdale, Arizona last weekend. The Giants faced the Angels on Saturday to open up their Cactus League season, followed by the Cubs on Sunday. Dropping both of their first two games, there was not much to take away from their first weekend, but a couple of players stood out in limited action and grabbed the attention of Bruce Bochy.
Bochy sat down with Murph & Mac this morning and discussed what he saw from the first two games. Bochy talked about the new-found depth the Giants have on their roster and what it means for certain position groups.
“Well it makes sense with what we’re doing here, you saw last year. We didn’t have one or two injuries, we had a lot of injuries and it caught up with us, so to have this depth now helps us.”
Farhan Zaidi and the Giants have established depth in all areas of the roster. Between the infield, outfield, rotation, and bullpen, the Giants will have lots of competition for the very few roster spots that are available. Bochy talked about the rotation behind Madison Bumgarner and doubled down on the notion that it’s still up in the air, with jobs to be won.
With a solid performance of two scoreless innings yesterday, Tyler Beede turned heads as one of the biggest standouts thus far. Showing an increase in velocity and a better command of his pitches, Bruce Bochy was left impressed.
“I think the shining star yesterday was Beede”, Bochy said. “He’s been throwing the ball very very well and carried it into the game. He had a good breaking ball, threw 97 (mph) with a changeup, he’s got three plus-pitches. It’s time for him to step up, last year was a tough year for him, but there’s no way this guy should struggle. This guy should be a one, two, or three starting pitcher in the big leagues.”
“You can’t do it,” Bochy said regarding naming his rotation right now. “I’ll be honest, you cant do it. You’ll see (Derek) Holland and (Drew) Pomeranz today, you look at the job (Dereck) Rodriguez and (Andrew) Suarez did for us last year. Beede is starting to open some eyes, but to be candid, he’ll probably be going back down (in Triple-A) to make sure he is on track, but you never know.”
Beede was drafted in the first round by the Giants in 2014 and has not lived up to expectations thus far after a brief stint with San Francisco last season. Starting two games with the Giants early in the season, Beede threw 7.2 innings, walked eight batters, and gave up seven earned runs. Last season was not just a poor season in the big leagues, as Beede struggled all season in Sacramento as well. Starting the year in the rotation, Beede was then used in relief where he finished 2018 with a 6.64 ERA through 80 innings pitched. Beede has always had good strikeout stuff but has struggled with location and command, giving up 83 hits and walking 59 batters through those 80 innings.
This offseason, Beede has put in a lot of work in an attempt to fix some of the issues that plagued him throughout the 2018 season. On the broadcast yesterday, Jon Miller mentioned that Beede looked slimmer as he walked to the mound to face the Cubs. An offseason of change and improvement for Beede could be huge for proving himself once again this spring.
“Tyler Beede looked incredible yesterday,” Giants beat writer Kerry Crowley said on KNBR Monday. “Ninety-seven with a sharp curveball that was darting out of the zone. They’re training him as a starter this spring, last year he transitioned to the bullpen and just had a really rough year in Triple-A, but he’s being trained as a starter.
“You see what you can get out of him in the PCL (Pacific Coast League) at the beginning of the year in Triple-A, then maybe he’s a guy you maybe bring up as a piece in your rotation, or maybe you do trade him for an asset that can help you in your lineup”
Aside from Beede, there were a few other players who played well this weekend. With some of the veterans resting early on, it’ll provide lots of opportunities for lesser-known players.
“Logan Webb, I thought he really did a nice job. Melvin Adon, I know he gave up the home run, but he hit 101 MPH and I think he needs to show that slider once in a while. (Joe) Panik looked good, so did (Brandon) Belt”, Bochy said.
With Cactus League games underway, we’ll see plenty of fresh faces in Giants camp this spring as position battles begin to heat up before the season starts at the end of March. Players such as Beede, Webb, Adon, as well as others will get plenty of looks as they try and turn some heads early on in camp.
Listen to Bochy’s interview here: