The San Francisco Giants didn’t bring a lot of regulars to Tempe on Tuesday. Their entire star-studded infield was given a day to explore Scottsdale’s thriving restaurant scene, and perhaps try to relive
the magic of the Waste Management Open at one of the city’s many notable golf courses. The crew that made the six-mile commute south featured a few proven veterans, but mostly consisted of players fighting for roster spots and Minor Leaguers.
But the battery was precisely what we expect to see when Netflix forces us to log in to their app to watch Opening Day on March 25: Logan Webb on the mound, and Patrick Bailey in the squaaat.
And if you want a reason to put stock into the Giants’ 4-1 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday, or into their 4-0 Cactus League start, despite every part of your brain screaming that the preseason doesn’t matter (remember the Giants’ record in the desert last year?), then those battery mates provided that reason.
Webb made his season debut and, to the surprise of precisely nobody, was the first pitcher that the Giants have let pitch take the mound for a second inning of work. Both innings went blissfully. Webb began his spring by striking out Kyren Paris, getting him to swing through a changeup and a sinker on consecutive pitches. That led to a Mike Trout pop up, followed by a Yoán Moncada strikeout to end the first.
His second inning also sandwiched strikeouts around harmless contact: a three-pitch punchout of Oswald Peraza to start, and a four-pitch K’ing of Bryce Teodosio to close, with Travis d’Arnaud grounding out in between.
Six batters, six outs, with four strikeouts. Just 26 pitches thrown, 17 of which were strikes. No balls that cleared the infield. He looked fully in midseason form … certainly more in midseason form than Statcast is.
It’s certainly not a surprise that Webb showed up ready to dominate multiple innings. He’s an ace for a reason, and he’s also on an accelerated timeline so that he can start games in the World Baseball Classic before the actual season. It’s a double ramp up, if you will, and it sure looks good.
And it was outpaced only by the guy catching his pitches. Bailey heard the offseason quips that the new ABS challenge system may sap some of his framing value, and took it personally.
In the second inning, Bailey successfully called for a challenge, giving Webb a 1-1 count against d’Arnaud when it had originally been a 2-0 count. But that wasn’t all. Just a half-inning later, with one out and Jared Oliva on third — following a single, a stolen base, and an error — Bailey called for a challenge on the first pitch of the at-bat. Rather than falling behind 0-1, Bailey took an advantageous count … and two pitches later, hit a sacrifice fly to score Oliva.
Just for good measure, Bailey tapped his catcher’s helmet again in the fifth inning, and this time it was supremely consequential: with two one, two outs, and two strikes, Bailey’s challenge — which he won — earned Ryan Walker a strikeout, and a scoreless spring debut.
Three challenges, three successes for Bailey. And as if that and his sacrifice fly weren’t enough, he also drew a walk and hit a double that left the bat at 109.7 mph … just 0.1 mph shy of his hardest-hit ball in all of 2025.
Yes, it was a swell day for the battery, and that’s meaningful when you remember that Webb and Bailey are two of the most important Giants entering the season.
Here are a few other takeaways, highlights, and notable bits from an untelevised game:
- Right-handed pitcher Keaton Winn made his spring debut and it started brilliantly: on the very first pitch that Winn threw, Paris broke his bat hitting a 45.7-mph squibbler that Casey Schmitt fielded at third for an out. Winn also retired Trout, and finished the inning giving up one baserunner on a walk, and striking out one. His velocity peaked at 96.8 mph.
- Walker, true to Giants closer form, got into some trouble by giving up a leadoff single and then hitting a batter. But he smoothly worked around the two-on, no-outs mess with three straight outs, including two strikeouts. After struggling with command last year, the closer frontrunner threw 12 of 15 pitches for strikes.
- While Bailey was the true challenge hero, he wasn’t the only one who got in on the fun. Left fielder Drew Gilbert, who entered the game as a late substitution, drew a walk when successfully challenging a 3-0 pitch that had been called a strike. That set up the Giants to score their fourth and final run of the game.
- Speaking of those four runs, here’s how they were scored: in the second inning, Jake Holton hit a leadoff double, and Nate Furman followed with a walk. Christian Koss hit into a fielder’s choice, which put runners at the corners. Schmitt then struck out, but Jung Hoo Lee came through with a two-out RBI single. In the third inning, the aforementioned Oliva/Bailey small ball attack. In the sixth inning, Bailey led off with a double, and Bo Davidson pinch-ran for him. Jerar Encarnación reached on an error by the third baseman Moncada, putting runners at the corners. Holton then hit a sacrifice fly. And in the seventh inning, Schmitt and Gilbert drew back-to-back walks, with Will Brennan pinch-running for Schmitt. A Victor Bericoto fielder’s choice put runners at the corners, and a Grant McCray sacrifice fly scored a run.
- Yes, that’s three out of four runs scored on sac flies. Are the Giants finally done striking out with runners on third and less than two outs? Stay tuned to find out.
- Lee played center field in this game, which is certainly notable. We know that the standard arrangement for the Giants will be Lee in right field with Harrison Bader in center, but I’ve been wondering whether or not the team will use Lee as the backup center fielder, and this would suggest that they’re at least open to the idea. It certainly makes it easier to carry Encarnación or Matos on the roster if they’re comfortable with Lee playing center on Bader’s off days.
- Landen Roupp made his season debut and pitched the third inning. It started with a seven-pitch walk, but then he locked in and retired three straight batters, two by way of strikeout. He topped out at 95.3 mph.
- Matt Gage also made his season debut. He pitched a perfect frame, while taking down three MLB regulars: Trout, Moncada, and Peraza.
- Michael Fulmer and Tyler Vogel, who is over from Minor League camp, became the first pitchers to get into multiple games. Fulmer worked around a leadoff walk to pitch an otherwise clean seventh inning, though his velocity remains in the very, very low 90s. Vogel gave up the only run of the day.
- Pitching the ninth was Braxton Roxby, who came over from Minor League camp. He tossed a 1-2-3 inning, with seven of his eight pitches going for strikes.
- Oliva’s stolen base was his second of the spring. No other Giant has even attempted a stolen base yet this year. Something to watch.
- Jesús Rodríguez entered the game as a sub and played second base for the second time this spring. Rodríguez was exclusively a catcher and designated hitter for AAA Sacramento after the Giants acquired him in the Camilo Doval trade, but he’s been a utility player for his Minor League career: he has a lot of experience at both first and third base, as well as left field, and has played a handful of games at second base. Perhaps the Giants will try to use him in a utility role, which would be fun.
And that’s all from Tempe! The Giants are off to Phoenix tomorrow to take on the Brewers at 12:10 p.m. PT. Adrian Houser and Carson Whisenhunt are, I believe, expected to pitch in that game, which is not on TV. You can follow the audio stream on the Giants website.
