Logan Webb continues to impress in Spring Training

Logan Webb made his third Cactus League appearance of 2022 on Monday afternoon, throwing 66 pitches over 4 -plus innings of work.

Despite giving up two 2-run homers, the San Francisco Giants starter continued to impress with a display of control and movement from his sinker, slider and change-up that earned him 5 strikeouts for the day.

While the overall stat line for Webb wasn’t anything to boast about, final results are often the last thing coaches and players look at when analyzing these Cactus League games. There’s a lot of variables that will fudge the game numbers. Bad routes to fly balls, uninformed defensive positioning, keeping the tag on a runner sliding through second, forgetting to cover first—everyone from the hot dog vendors to the camera operators to the umpires are relearning how to do this baseball thing again.

What excited me about Monday’s performance was Webb’s demeanor on the mound. He seemed as focused and as comfortable throwing a baseball as he did last October. He knows he is good and is clearly confident in his stuff and his ability to execute at a high level.

First inning, he came out of the gate attacking Milwaukee’s potent top of the lineup, logging strike-outs against Kolten Wong and Lorenzo Cain before inducing a Christian Yelich ground-out.

After being squeezed by a tight strike-zone in the second, giving up a walk then a no-doubter to Willy Adames, Webb kept the ball on the ground and worked through a throwing error to close out the inning.

In the fourth, after Rowdy Tellez’s two-run homer, Webb struck out the next batter Hunter Renfroe looking.

It wasn’t a perfect outing, but it was a realistic one. Pitchers are going to get beat by hitters, corners aren’t going to get called, errors will be made—a player proves himself in the big leagues by keeping his composure, reclaiming his rhythm and attacking the next opponent.

Webb did that today. As did key bullpen cogs Jarlín García and Kervin Castro for that matter. Its that level-headed approach to the game that will be the difference in a lot of games this coming season.

Logan Webb’s confidence on the mound this spring is palpable and was affirmed by manager Gabe Kapler soon after the conclusion of the game by announcing that the 25 year old would be the 2022 San Francisco Giants Opening Day starter.

It will be Logan Webb’s first opening day nod of his career and hopefully not his last.