Brad Martens / SF Giants
SCOTTSDALE — The live arm is what sticks out. Anthony DeSclafani is the best bet to be the Giants’ next Kevin Gausman, a buy-low candidate with a mid-90s fastball that the club hopes can put it all together.
But as is the case with so many of the Giants’ pitchers, the fastballs are being more mixed in than relied upon. There are dashes of heat, but he is keeping a steady dose of offspeed pitches coming.
On Wednesday, there was a slider that he was throwing harder, “a little bit more cutter-ish,” he said, to make it distinct. There was a curveball that is playing up, and there was an excellent changeup that he employed often.
And there were eight strikeouts in four-plus innings against one of the best lineups in baseball.
DeSclafani showed glimpses of dominance in a terrific outing in the Giants’ 7-3 win over the Padres at Scottsdale Stadium, in which the righty allowed a walk and four hits, including a solo shot to Wil Myers for the only run he allowed.
“As far as pitch usage, that’s definitely come into play as of late,” said DeSclafani, who pitched into the fifth but walked one batter with a fastball whose velocity had dropped. “I had a good talk with the pitching coaches [Tuesday] just about pitch usage and just upping usage of some other offspeed pitches, and I did that tonight.”
He did it well. There was plenty of swing and miss against a fairly representative Padres lineup that lacked the banged-up Fernando Tatis Jr., but still had Tommy Pham, Manny Machado, Jake Cronenworth and Eric Hosmer at the top.
He wasn’t helped out by his defense, which is another trend of the Giants’ Cactus League, as a shifted-over Wilmer Flores couldn’t handle two shots, one a line drive that the third baseman dropped on the right side of the infield, another a ground blast that bounced off Flores’ leg in shallow right field.
Spotty defense and a swinging bunt helped San Diego load the bases in the first, but a knee-buckling curve to Haseong Kim ended the threat.
DeSclafani has had solid seasons, most recently in the 2019 campaign in which he posted a 3.89 ERA in 166 2/3 innings. But he was a mess last year, which started with injury and included his becoming a father during the pandemic, and the Giants scooped him up on a $6 million pact.
They like the makeup, and that goes far beyond the fastball. He’s happier with the pitch shapes, and he’s happier with the usage that is rounding into form.
“I thought it was really nice outing. It was crisp, his pace was good,” Gabe Kapler said over Zoom. “He had some really good adjustments with his breaking ball when he left it arm side, and then made adjustments to bring it more glove side, and then starting a few of those pitches on the plate and finishing them off the plate.”
He should have one more tuneup before his season opens April 3 as the Giants’ No. 3 starter, although that is not official. The Giants will see Gausman, Johnny Cueto and then they hope the next Gausman.
“The talent is there,” Kapler said. “The physical tools and gifts are all intact.”
