Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports
SCOTTSDALE — Kevin Gausman likely won’t enter the season as the Giants’ Opening Day starter, but it is only an act of deference to Johnny Cueto’s veteran status. There is no question about who the Giants’ most valuable pitcher is.
“He’s probably one of the quietest aces I have been around,” Curt Casali said Wednesday. “I think the key point is that we’re calling him an ace.”
The Giants are lined up for their ace to debut April 2, the second day of the season, and Gausman looks on track after his 48-pitch, up-and-down start against the Rockies, in which his four-seamer averaged 94.7 mph.
Gausman didn’t have his best command and did not lean on his elite splitter as much as he will during the year — he threw it 10 times and induced four swings and misses — while not placing his fastball at the top of the zone as often as he wanted. Still, it was an encouraging 2 1/3 inning, three-run (one earned), three-strikeout performance in the 11-8, St. Patrick’s Day win over the Rockies at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick.
The 30-year-old was pulled with the bases loaded in the second and then reappeared for the third so he could get better acquainted with resting between the half inning and going back out. With two more starts left in the Cactus League, he should be ready to take down six innings in his season-opener.
“I missed some fastballs down in the zone trying to go up today,” he said, before adding he felt better about his splitter, which he barely threw in his first spring appearance. “But overall I felt pretty good.”
Casali caught Gausman for the first time in a game since Sept. 26, 2019, when the two were Reds teammates and Gausman a reliever who had flamed out with the Braves. Casali is now catching a bit of a different pitcher, one who goes exclusively out of the stretch, with a fastball that is playing up while up in the zone, with the same filthy splitter.
“I think his slider’s actually got a lot better since he’s become a Giant, which is also really cool and can add a different wrinkle to the mix,” said Casali, who went 1-for-3 and has looked healthy in camp after offseason hamate surgery.
Add in a changeup, and the four-pitch mix with an emphasis on the splitter is why Gausman was the fourth-overall pick in 2012 and had the arsenal the Giants believed in.
He put it together last year, and the club hopes he can build on that starting April 2 in Seattle.
“The spring training success story is that he got through three innings and he got to exactly where he needed to be,” Gabe Kapler said over Zoom. “With Kevin Gausman, his performance in spring training is more the icing on the cake and not the meat and potatoes right now. We just want to build him up and get him ready for the season.”