Five young Giants who are sticking out in spring training
Even in a normal spring, it's hard to fully put your finger on which players might be taking a leap and which ones are truly struggling. Teams are dealing with extremely small sample sizes, and Cactus League games are filled with overmatched prospects and veterans who are just there to work on one very specific adjustment.This spring, it's even more difficult. Access is limited, and the Giants are secretive even beyond that. Take Kevin Gausman, for example. The right-hander is the likely Opening Day starter, and yet he hasn't thrown a pitch in a game yet. Manager Gabe Kapler insists he's fine, and Gausman threw a live BP session on Monday.Reporters and fans are left parsing moments that are even less meaningful than Cactus League games, which is how we know that Gausman actually is a spring standout instead of a concern. During his first live BP session, he blew hitters away."Gausman is just kind of looking like he knows how good he is," Kapler said afterward. "And that's really a good thing for us."That's one of the positives thus far in camp. Here are five more players who have stood out through the first few weeks.
The 27-year-old came to Scottsdale without an apparent path to an Opening Day roster spot, but he might be hitting his way onto the flight to Seattle later this month. Vosler is 8-for-20 with three doubles and a triple, showing a good feel for the strike zone and a high motor on the bases. He made an early statement with doubles off Walker Buehler and Dustin May in the same game.
"He's barreling the ball up quite a bit," Kapler said afterward.
Vosler is most comfortable at the corners but also can play second. The Giants even tried him in left field over the weekend, with Kapler saying they're trying to find "as many paths to a roster spot" as possible for some players. For Vosler, an injury might open the door.
Brandon Belt hasn't seen the field yet and has to be considered somewhat questionable for the opener at this point, and Vosler can slide into that roster spot until Belt is 100 percent. If he shows aptitude in left, he also might put himself in a dead heat with Darin Ruf, who has also had good at-bats. Even if he gets squeezed out, Vosler looks like a player who will see a lot of big league time during a 162-game season.
The decision, at first a surprising one, to protect Castro from the Rule 5 Draft in December seems like one of the best of the offseason. If the right-hander were throwing like this in another camp with the Rule 5 rules hanging over him, he'd be a strong bet to make the Opening Day roster. The Giants can take it slow with Castro, who hasn't pitched above Salem-Keizer, but he might not allow them to take it too slow.
Castro blew hitters away in instructs and has done nothing but continue to open eyes this spring. He has faced six batters in two outings and struck out three of them, hitting 97 mph and showing off a good curveball.
"Castro has impressed early and often, dating back to the bullpen sessions from (a month ago). It's been very consistent in the pen, very consistent with the velocity," Kapler said after Castro's first Cactus League outing. "In instructional league, he impressed with his pace, his tempo, and attacking the strike zone with that fastball-change-curveball combination, and he has impressed us with his poise. I think today was a good example of that poise. It was kind of a big moment for a young player and he stepped up and met the bar."
Kapler has praised Castro repeatedly going back to the offseason and has said multiple times that he can be a big leaguer this season. When you listen to the manager talk about the 22-year-old, it's hard not to think he's talking about a potential future closer.
What if I told you the Giants had a 25-year-old left-handed starting pitching prospect with a 2.95 career ERA in the minors, and that this player averaged 12.4 strikeouts-per-nine in his last minor league season and hit 97 mph on the stadium gun in his spring debut while showing off a nasty 12-6 curveball. You'd be pretty excited, right?
That player, Sam Long, looks like he might be one of the pickups of the offseason right now. Long has a fascinating history, and the Giants scooped the Sacramento native up early in the offseason and have since watched the velocity tick up.
"Long continues to impress," Kapler said recently. "He continues to look like a guy who has a chance to be a Major League starter at some point."
Long has mostly been a reliever in the minors but he started half the season in 2019 and the Giants will get him stretched out. At the very least he looks like a future bullpen option, but it would be huge if he could keep developing and become a real rotation piece down the line, because the Giants are still short on those in their system.
Given the starting pitching they've accrued, it seems likely the Giants might have Long in Double-A Richmond's rotation to start the year, with a chance to quickly move up to Triple-A Sacramento, which is 10 minutes from his home.
The top prospects have mostly been quiet, but Ramos broke through Sunday with a pair of homers against the Cincinnati Reds, showing the power that consistently has him on top 100 lists.
Even before the homers, Ramos was showing a good swing. He's 5-for-12 overall with three RBI and three runs scored.
Ramos has played just 25 games above A-ball, but he spent last summer at the alternate site and got a lot of high-level training in, mostly with farm director Kyle Haines. This is his first camp, but he's no wallflower. Ramos said last week that he feels he's ready for the big leagues.
"I can't wait," he said. "I'm going to do everything I can to get there and I feel like I deserve it. I feel like I can play in the big leagues."
Ramos still is just 21 and might repeat Double-A at first since the Giants plan to be cautious with initial placements, but he has the look of a player who is going to bash his way into the big league conversation well before September call-ups are announced. They want him to develop, but also are happy to see the drive he has shown to get to the top level.
"We're really glad that Ramos is hungry," Kapler said. "We're excited about his production."
A member of the rotation all of last season, Webb was seemingly pushed to sixth-starter status by the addition of Aaron Sanchez, but he has taken it in stride. The 24-year-old has pitched three innings over two starts, allowing one hit and striking out four. He also has talked often of how much knowledge he's trying to soak up from Sanchez, Scott Kazmir and other veterans who were brought in to compete for starts.
Webb's changeup has been the focus of camp, and it was a pitch he went to early and often Monday while striking out three Arizona Diamondbacks. Kapler said Buster Posey pushed Webb to favor it.
"He recognized early on that Logan's changeup was working well and he kept getting after it," Kapler said Monday afternoon. "Buster knows and Logan knows it's a pitch we want him to get very, very comfortable throwing."
Sanchez, signed to fill out the rotation, still hasn't pitched in a Cactus League game, although he's throwing a live BP on Tuesday so he's getting close. If the Giants need a fill-in, Webb is showing that he's ready for another look, and he could be an option for the bullpen at some point, too.
"We won't rule anything out with Logan," Kapler said. "Logan obviously may turn out to be one of our best starters and we have to leave open the possibility that that's the case, as well."
