One Week In!

Mar 1, 2025 | Latest Post, Out of Left Field

by DrLefty

Happy March! Before this month is over, the Giants will be playing real baseball that counts. In fact, Opening Day is exactly three weeks and five days away!

Since I wrote last week, the Giants have completed their first full week of Cactus League games, and as Brother Lefty texted me yesterday, “The Giants have gotten off to a good start this spring.” Yes, they have. Their record is 4-2-2, but the two ties came when non-roster relievers gave up late-inning leads. They could easily be 6-2. Beyond the W-L record, several specific things are going well.

 

The Opening Day position players are producing

Yesterday’s game at Scottsdale Stadium, which the Giants won 9-2, was a great case in point. With the exception of Jung Hoo Lee and Heliot Ramos, the starting lineup was pretty much as you’d expect it to be on Opening Day in Cincinnati on March 27. With Tyler Fitzgerald back in action, the (partially) new-look infield was together for the first time. More to the point, all nine runs were knocked in by those Opening Day players–homers by Matt Chapman, Wilmer Flores, LaMonte Wade Jr, and Mike Yastrzemski, a two-run single by Willy Adames, and another two-run single by Wade Jr. Speaking of Wade Jr, he walked in all three plate appearances in the Thursday game and went 2 for 4 on Friday, and his OBP for spring training is .462, which sounds about right. In a bunch of small sample sizes, all of the regulars have an OPS of .770 or higher, with most of them over .950. That includes Lee (.973), who didn’t play yesterday but will today.

Sometimes in the Cactus League, all the noise is being made by some AA dude or non-roster guy who has no shot of making the team, and you wonder when the actual guys are going to start hitting. But right now, everyone looks ready to go. And it’s worth mentioning that the Giants did their damage yesterday against legit major league pitchers, starting with three runs on back-to-back homers off ace Freddy Peralta.

 

 

The pitching looks great

In yesterday’s game, the Giants’ six pitchers struck out 12 and walked zero. Yes, please. Logan Webb had a rough spring last year (ERA of nearly 11), but this year he’s off to a very good start (5 IP, 1.80 ERA, five strikeouts and no walks). The two leading candidates for the fifth starter position, Kyle Harrison and Hayden Birdsong, each pitched two scoreless innings with three strikeouts apiece. Maybe the most impressive pitching thus far has been by Landen Roupp, who looked filthy in Thursday’s game (so far 5 IP, 0 runs, 8 strikeouts, and 0 walks). And in an intriguing development, Jordan Hicks was hitting triple digits in his first outing and appears to have a different philosophy about being a starter this year (“Let it eat,” he said of his heater.)

So far, the pitching staff is fifth in MLB in ERA, first in WHIP, second in strikeouts, and last in walks–and again, if you take away a couple of bad outings by relievers who will not be on the team, the numbers are even better.

The trio of young pitchers–Harrison, Birdsong, and Roupp–possibly present an interesting dilemma. In an article last night, Andrew Baggarly implied that Harrison has the inside track, that Birdsong would go to AAA, and that Roupp could end up in the big league bullpen. Several commenters responded along the lines of “Are we suuuuuuure that Hicks should be locked in as the fourth starter?” It’s an interesting question and a nice problem to have, but as Alex Pavlovic says nearly every week on Giants Talk, these things have a way of working themselves out. In any case, the Giants are clearly in a better and healthier spot in their rotation than they were this time last year.

Here’s some video of Roupp from Thursday.

 

 

Less impressive: the younger position players

On the flip side, no younger player is making a case for crashing the Opening Day roster. Bryce Eldridge, Marco Luciano, and Luis Matos have all had impressive hits at points–Eldridge’s bomb in the first Cactus League game made quite an impression, as did Luciano’s homer a few days later–but overall, none of them are setting the world on fire to this point. Same with Wade Meckler and Grant McCray–meh. The only younger bench types having good springs at the plate so far are Brett Wisely (.462 batting average, 1.077 OPS) and Christian Koss (1.233 OPS). I have Wisely making the team as the backup infielder because he’s defensively solid and versatile and bats lefty. Koss, who was obtained in a trade with the Red Sox about a year ago, had a good year in AA/AAA last year and will likely be infield depth in Sacramento to start this season.

All that said, this potentially leads to a solid Sacramento team to start the season, for example:

OF: McCray, Luciano, Meckler (I have Matos making the big league team as the fourth outfielder)

1B: Eldridge (unless he starts in AA, which is still possible)

SS/2B/3B: Some combination of Koss, Casey Schmitt, and Osleivis Basabe

C: Max Stassi (I have Sam Huff as the backup catcher on the Giants) and Adrian Sugastey

Starting rotation: Birdsong, Carsons x 3 (Ragsdale, Seymour, Whisenhunt), Keaton Winn, and possibly Roupp

 

My 26ManGuys™ 2025 Contest

Have you submitted your ballot yet? I have and have already edited it once. (Once you submit the ballot, save the email confirmation–that has the link to go in and edit your selections.)

My26ManGuys2025™ link.
https://forms.gle/nUKi5UZyhtZ6g8C78

Deadline is March 17.

 

Today’s Game

Giants at Dodgers, 12:05 p.m. at Camelback Ranch, Glendale (Radio: KNBR; TV: Dodgers SportsNet LA if you get MLB.TV)

Carson (“Meathead”)* Seymour vs. Matt Sauer

*Lest you think I’m bringing back my mean nickname for #ForeverGiant Hunter Strickland, you can read this article to see why Seymour is appropriately referred to as “meathead.” It’s a little…quirky. The whole piece is a cute profile of the “three Carsons.” Here’s a different piece on the Carsons by Alex Pavlovic.

It’s actually Justin Verlander‘s day, but manager Bob Melvin doesn’t want the Dodgers to see him yet, so he’s doing a simulated game at the Giants’ minor league park, instead. As Melvin pointed out, the Dodgers, who have a cajillion starters, seem to be doing the same thing by starting Sauer. This all seems a bit silly when you remember that the Giants don’t actually play the Dodgers this year until June! I mean…a lot can happen between now and June.

My next edition of Out of Left Field will come to you from Scottsdale! We head there next Friday and will be at the Scottsdale Stadium games on Saturday and Sunday (March 8-9). Can’t wait to get there! Lefty out.