Notes: Webb to start; Dubón's tough luck

April 17th, 2021

This past week has been a bit of a roller coaster for young Giants right-hander .

On Wednesday, manager Gabe Kapler and pitching coach Andrew Bailey sat down with Webb to inform him that he would move to the bullpen to clear a rotation spot for left-hander , who is expected to be activated off the injured list and start against the Marlins on Sunday.

“I was prepared,” Webb said on Saturday. “I knew Wood was coming back. You can’t not have that guy in the rotation. He's going to be awesome.”

Webb’s stint as a reliever didn’t last long, though.

After landed on the 10-day injured list with a Grade 1 lat strain on Friday, Kapler announced that Webb would slide back into the rotation and start against the Phillies on Tuesday.

“It’s been a little crazy,” Webb said. “But I think that comes with the job. You’ve kind of just got to be prepared for anything. I’m just excited to help the team however they need me to do that, whether it be starting or relieving.”

Webb, 24, was a revelation during Spring Training, allowing only one run over 17 innings and striking out 22 over five Cactus League starts. He wasn’t as dominant in his first two starts of the regular season, surrendering six runs over 10 1/3 innings. Webb said he was maybe trying to do a little too much out of the gate.

Webb spoke with catchers and to help work through some mechanical issues and said he now feels closer to the form he showed during Spring Training. He looked sharp in his most recent outing on Wednesday, when he needed only 11 pitches to pitch a 1-2-3 seventh inning in relief against the Reds.

The Giants are hoping Cueto will miss only two starts, so it’s unclear whether Webb will remain in the rotation or return to the bullpen once Cueto returns.

“I want to be a guy who can be reliable in any situation,” Webb said. “I don’t know how many starts I’ll get. I really hope Johnny’s back pretty soon here. But in the meantime, if I’ve got to step in and be that starter for him while he’s out, that’s what I’ll do. We’ll see what happens from there.”

Kapler remained noncommittal on Webb’s future role, noting that plenty of unforeseen circumstances could arise over the next 10 days.

“Nothing’s off the table,” Kapler said. “The easiest way to say this is we’re going to read and react. There’s going to be so much information that comes in Logan’s next starts and in all of our other starting pitchers’ next starts. So many things can happen in 10 days.

“I’m not trying to punt or push off on the question. We just don’t have nearly the information now that we’ll have then, and we’ll make those decisions as we get that information.”

Dubón confident luck will turn at the plate
The Giants entered Saturday hitting only .203 as a team, though their expected batting average (.247) suggests there’s been an element of bad luck in their slow start. Infielder/outfielder , for example, is only 3-for-21 (.143) over his first 10 games of the season, but he has been hitting the ball hard and hasn’t had much to show for it.

“It’s funny,” Dubón said. “Some guys say, ‘Oh, he’s struggling at the plate.’ I’m actually doing what I want to do. It’s just after I hit it, I can’t control that. I’ve been hitting the ball right at people, hard. The past couple days I missed a home run just because we’re playing at Oracle Park. You can’t control that, and I just got to keep doing what I’m doing. I’m not going to line out the whole year.”

Dubón, 26, showed off a more selective approach at the plate during Spring Training and drew a team-high 10 walks during Cactus League action, a sign of his maturation as a hitter. He said he’s confident that more hits will start to fall if he continues to trust the process and stick with his more disciplined mindset.

“I’ve been finding more gloves than grass,” Dubón said. “It’s going to come. Of course, it’s frustrating, especially when you’ve been hitting balls hard. I think the only base hits I have was me getting jammed or hitting it off the end of the bat. It’s funny. That’s how baseball works.”