SAN FRANCISCO -- As the longest-tenured Giant, Logan Webb is well-versed in the significance of the Willie Mac Award.
The prestigious honor is presented annually to the most inspirational player on the Giants, with San Francisco players, coaches, trainers, clubhouse staff and fans voting to determine the winner each year.
Webb finished runner-up for the prize three years in a row, though he didn’t necessarily expect to be recognized by his teammates after an uneven 2026 campaign.
While his performance on the mound didn’t meet his standards, Webb was heartened to learn that he was still voted the winner of the 2026 Willie Mac Award, a sign of the deep respect he commands in the Giants’ clubhouse.
“It's exciting,” Webb said Friday. “It's an honor. I believe I've come in second now three years in a row. So, I finally got one. To be honest, it’s not the year, maybe, I expected to get one. But it means my teammates see something in me or believe in me in a different way. It's cool. Staff and coaches and people that have known or voted for me, they were all pretty excited. That makes me excited. It just means that even though I didn't have the year I wanted to, I did some different things that stood out.”
Webb joined third baseman Matt Chapman (’24) and shortstop Willy Adames (’25) as current Giants who have won the Willie Mac Award, which was established in 1980 in honor of Hall of Famer Willie McCovey. Webb became the first Giants pitcher to earn the honor since Will Smith in ’18 and the first starting pitcher to be recognized since Madison Bumgarner in ’14.
President of baseball operations Buster Posey, another former recipient, presented the award to Webb on Friday, along with McCovey’s daughter, Allison, and wife, Estela.
McCovey died in 2018, but Webb said he got a chance to meet the beloved first baseman as a young Minor Leaguer in the Giants’ farm system, making the prize even more special for him.
“I still have the picture on my phone,” Webb said. “All the old-timers would come and talk to everybody. At the time, it was [Orlando] Cepeda, Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Gaylord Perry, [Juan Marichal]. It was all these guys that would come and talk to the entire Minor League [system]. I made sure I went up to all of them and introduced myself. None of them probably remember me, but every time they spoke, I would listen as much as I could and learn as much as I could.”
Webb, 29, dominated for Team USA during the World Baseball Classic in March and earned his third career All-Star nod this season, but his overall numbers fell short of the ace-level production the Giants had grown used to receiving from him in recent years.
He logged a 4.31 ERA over 27 starts before being shut down with a right middle finger blister last week, leaving him with his highest ERA since his rookie season (5.47 ERA) in 2020. Webb also missed time with right knee bursitis in May and finished with 160 2/3 innings, snapping his streak of three consecutive 200-inning seasons for the Giants.
While Webb struggled to find consistency on the mound, his steady leadership in the clubhouse continued to prove invaluable for a club that underwent significant turnover following a slew of trades and injuries this year.
“I think I've done a poor job of just the playing aspect of being a leader, but that's on me,” Webb said. “But I think there's a lot of moments this season that we've had where I'm trying my best to help guys out. I think if you look across the room, there's probably four or five guys that can be happy or proud of what they've done this year. Even then, I think those guys are pretty upset with how the team has performed.
“I'm learning it with all these guys, too. I'm doing my best to help out as much as I can. I know a lot of these guys will be around in Arizona. I think it's going to be a fun offseason to push all of ourselves. Hopefully I can lead as much as I can in that and look in the mirror and push myself first.”