San Francisco Giants: Not Time To Be Concerned About Pitching…Yet
The San Francisco Giants and their pitchers continue to blow up, but it’s not time to be concerned about the staff…yet.
The San Francisco Giants‘ new and improved starting rotation hasn’t looked all that new or all that improved so far in Spring Training. Staff ace Madison Bumgarner has pitched to the tune of a 11.12 ERA and 2.12 WHIP, while Jake Peavy‘s numbers are 8.31 and 2.13, and Matt Cain‘s are 12.15 and 3.00. The two new starters, Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija, aren’t faring much better, with 9.58/1.84 and 8.53/1.63 on their record, respectively.
Understandably, some fans are a bit worried as the season opener closes in, but it’s not time to sound the alarms just yet. After all, it’s still only Spring Training and these guys are working with full decks just yet.
One of the things that makes the Giants’ pitching so great is having the luxury of pitching about half of their starts in AT&T Park, San Francisco’s home stadium that is the premier pitcher’s paradise in baseball. The Giants are not home yet, instead playing in Arizona for Cactus League play, where hitters are known to thrive.
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Pitching in the thin, humid Arizona heat is similar to pitching in a toned down version of Coors Field, a Coors Light Field, if you will. Balls fly a lot more in the thin air, cutting through the sky like a warm knife through butter. A lot of cheapie home runs are hit in Arizona, and one of them was hit off Cueto in the first game of the Giants’ split squad day on Friday. Cueto pitched six very nice innings (a quite encouraging sign that was a breath of fresh air amid numerous ugly outings), but did give up a home run to the Kansas City Royals’ Travis Snider that could be considered a “Spring Special”.
On a pitch up and over the plate, Snider took what looked like half-hearted swing, but the ball just keep carrying and carrying, soaring into the right field bullpen. In San Francisco, Snider’s swing results in not much more than a lazy flyball to semi-deep right field. Alas, that’s not the case in Cactus League play. The balls will continue to fly until the Giants head back home.
The infields in Arizona aren’t exactly conducive to good pitching either. On Friday, San Francisco Chronicle Giants’ beat writer Hank Schulman had a discussion with Giants’ third baseman Matt Duffy about the “cement-like” infields around the desert, and those hurt pitching as well. What should be a fairly routine groundball to an infielder becomes a screaming grounder through the hole for a base hit.
Pitchers in Arizona at this point in the year are working more on mechanics and location, rather than pitching as if they were in a game that counts. They aren’t necessarily throwing pitches as if they want to get the hitter out, but are instead trying to establish a release point on a certain pitch, or determine whether they can consistently throw that pitch to a certain location. The mindset is different as they determine which pitch to throw at what time.
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And it’s not just the Giants that are struggling with their pitching in the Cactus League, either, although they are 30th with a 6.56 ERA. There are no Arizona-based teams in the top-10 of staff ERA, with all 15 teams checking in in the bottom 20. The mean team ERA around the desert is 5.27.
The main point for the Giants is that their starters are healthy. Bumgarner, after missing a start because of nagging foot and ribcage ailments, has come out of his last two exhibition starts healthy, although he still hasn’t swung a bat this spring. Cueto was brought along at a slower pace because of an abbreviated offseason following the Royals’ World Series run last year, but has looked strong in his past two appearances and appears ready for the upcoming season. Samardzija and Peavy haven’t had any health issues. Cain is back from surgery to remove a cyst, and has thrown a good number of bullets in his two spring outings.
In Thursday’s 15-14 slugfest between the Giants and Chicago Cubs, both Bumgarner and Cubs’ starter Jake Arrieta were roughed up, but that’s not overly concerning. What should be more concerning is that Arrieta was pulled early because of a blister on his thumb. That’s the type of thing that should get attention at this point in the year, not just a sloppy pitching line.
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If April comes around and Giants’ pitchers are still being blown up on a regular basis, then it would be time to worry. Right now, as they continue to work out the kinks, is not the time for panic.