Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports
The blame, the Giants think, does not rest on Logan Webb’s arm, which struggled through 3 1/3, six-run innings Friday night.
They pinpointed it a bit higher.
“There are some mechanical things that are going on in his head,” Gabe Kapler said over Zoom after the Giants’ 6-0 defeat to the A’s at the Coliseum. “He’s thinking about those things.”
Webb spent the offseason in Scottsdale tweaking his delivery and adding a new pitch, what he calls a sweeper, to his arsenal with the help of pitching minds like Brian Bannister and Matt Daniels. But it’s Webb’s mind that is backfiring at the moment, apparently thinking too much about how best to properly throw each pitch and not just letting loose.
Since an excellent outing Aug. 21 against the Diamondbacks, the 23-year-old has struggled through five starts (although with plenty of defensive miscues behind him), going a combined 21 1/3 innings while allowing 21 earned runs. There is plenty of movement in a grab bag that has options — he’s throwing a four-seamer, changeup, cutter and sinker along with that sweeper — but he has fallen behind and lost too many batters. He’s walked 10 in this span, two against Oakland, in coming up short when the Giants could have used long.
Tyler Anderson and Drew Smyly combined to go 5 2/3 innings in the Giants’ past two games, prompting a bullpen shuffle that brought up Andrew Suarez and Shaun Anderson. Both were needed immediately because of Webb’s struggles.
“The bullpen’s kind of been worn out, especially some of the times I’ve been pitching,” said Webb, who takes losses as hard as anyone. “Feel like shit about that. I feel like I keep saying this: I just got to be better and give them more innings and give the team more innings and put our team in a better position to win, and I really haven’t been doing that. It sucks, and it’s frustrating.
“I can’t dwell on that, and I just got to get back to work and try to find some things … flush it out of my head and get back to competing.”
Kapler wanted Webb’s head to be in the backyard again, playing whiffle ball with friends — just get the ball and throw. In other years, Buster Posey could be guiding his arm and mind, both calling the pitches and ensuring another young pitcher is focusing fully on the glove.
This year the Giants and Webb do not have that luxury. Instead they are grooming the catcher of their future, who is learning which pitchers to pat on the back, which to joke with, which to calm and which to inspire.
One end of the battery trying to charge the other.
“I just tried to tell him to have fun. This game isn’t easy. Don’t make it any harder than it is,” said Joey Bart, who visited Webb on the mound on a few occasions. “We get a chance to play baseball tonight. Let’s go out here, give everything we have, leave it all out on the field, and that’s what I told him.
“… Guy’s got the best stuff. His stuff’s ridiculous,” Bart added. “So, if he can just tone it down a little bit, get back in the zone and get back to himself, he’ll be fine.”
If Kevin Gausman and Johnny Cueto are indeed healthy, the Giants have enough starters. But they are not ditching Webb, Kapler saying he’ll make his next start, which should come against the Rockies and not Oakland, which makes for a softer landing.
“I’ve just gotta compete. I’ve just gotta be better,” Webb said. “Frustrated right now.”