© Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports
Bruce Bochy has a decision to make.
Monday the Giants announced they were sending rookie pitcher Conner Menez back to Triple-A after giving up 11 runs in 12.2 innings with San Francisco. Tuesday they filled the void he left in the roster by bringing Aramis Garcia back up to the majors, but they still need to decide who will take Menez’s place in the starting rotation.
Before the opening game of the Bay Bridge series on Tuesday, Bochy said the club is looking at all their options, but one name stands out more than the others.
Logan Webb made his first start for Triple-A Sacramento on Monday, and he was phenomenal.
Logan Webb used a well spotted 94-95 mph fb and devilish breaker to rack up 7 Ks in AAA debut pic.twitter.com/f1Xu8W2KRo
— Roger Munter (@rog61) August 13, 2019
“He threw the ball well,” Bochy said of Webb’s debut. “He’s got good stuff, this kid. We saw it in spring training. Power sinker, slider, change up. Overall he did a really good job.”
Webb scattered seven hits over seven innings, only giving up one earned run and striking out seven. He had been nearly as impressive in eight appearances for the club’s Double-A affiliate in Richmond, posting a 2.18 ERA and 1.282 WHIP.
Five of those appearances came at the beginning of the year before he was suspended 80 games for testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug. After he completed his suspension, Webb worked his way up through three levels of minor league baseball before his start in Sacramento.
“I love this game and respect it too much to ever cheat it,” Webb said in a statement from the Giants when he was suspended. “I am heartbroken over this and I am not sure why this is happening to me, but in life some things happen for a reason and it is my job now to find that reason… I will be back and better than ever.”
Webb will be an interesting prospect to watch with the River Cats, and one we could see sooner than later at Oracle Park. Only two pitchers who have started at least five games for Sacramento hold an ERA lower than 4.00 – Dereck Rodriguez and Tyler Beede.
“You can look and see where we’re at right now,” Bochy said of who might fill the Giants’ final starting spot. “Guys that are starting down there between of course (Dereck) Rodriguez, you can put Webb in there, of course we have (Andrew) Suarez here. But we’re talking about all our options right now. We’ll come up with it soon.”
