It was impossible to miss Sean Hjelle this spring, but not because he's one of the tallest players in baseball history. The right-hander showed up to camp with a glorious mustache that would have fit right in with Austin Slater and Mike Yastrzemski last May.
"If I go completely clean-shaven I look like a high school freshman again," Hjelle explained, "So it's just keeping something going that I actually look somewhat of age and somewhat of not-a-very-young-kid."
It would be appropriate for Hjelle, a 24-year-old taken in the second round four years ago, to make his debut in Mustache May, but the Giants hope they won't need him to. They were aggressive in building their rotation in free agency and have spent recent weeks supplementing a good starting five with depth.
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Hjelle is one of three notable minor league options, along with Tyler Beede and Sammy Long, and his return to big league camp was about making further adjustments, not trying to win an Opening Day job. In discussing Hjelle's up-and-down 2021, manager Gabe Kapler brought up Logan Webb, another homegrown right-hander who broke through last year.
Kapler wasn't at all comparing the two, who have very different body types and stuff, but the staff does want Hjelle to follow Webb in one respect. Webb hit his stride when he stopped trying to dot the corners and instead let his natural movement take over as he pounded the strike zone.
"He can be in the middle of the plate and let his pitches move, the sinker will move, the changeup will move, and the breaking ball will move," Kapler said of Hjelle. "It's all about strike-throwing for him ... when he's interested in spotting up with a comebacker sinker on the outside corner, we will remind him that his best path to success is throwing strike one, strike two, and putting the hitter in a disadvantageous count and burying him. He has all the tools, all of the stuff, some deception -- he's set up well to execute on that approach."
Filling the zone can be a difficult concept to embrace in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, where Hjelle made 10 starts late last season. He had a 3.15 ERA and 1.20 WHIP in Double-A, but after a promotion to Triple-A, Hjelle allowed 67 hits in 53 1/3 innings, posting a 7.59 ERA.
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Asked on this week's Giants Talk Podcast what he learned from that experience, Hjelle pointed to how many hits pitchers give up in the league.
"There's just more hits in that league, there's more action, there's more baserunners, that's just part of it," he said. "It's frustrating at first, and for me I think you could see that in terms of getting used to that."
The Giants will never really blame a young pitcher for giving up hits in the PCL. The ballparks are unforgiving and infielders are often playing out of position. But Hjelle walking 4.9 batters per nine innings was a concern; he has always had good command dating back to his days at the University of Kentucky. The ability to repeat his mechanics and fill the zone is part of what drew the Giants to him in 2018.
"I think he tried to be a little bit too fine in Triple-A," Kapler said. "He has a history of strike-throwing."
If Hjelle can get back to that, he should debut this season, joining a staff that has been built to give opponents different types of matchups. At 6-foot-11, Hjelle would provide another unique matchup for teams already preparing for the likes of Alex Wood, Tyler Rogers, fastball-only closer Jake McGee, and guys like Webb and Alex Cobb, who have a side-to-side approach that's increasingly rare in today's game.
"It's a wildly different look and that's a huge advantage for a pitcher in the Major Leagues," Kapler said. "Anytime you can look different than the other 10, 12 pitchers on staff, that's big. One of the things that we've tried to express to Sean is that he should feel very confident on the mound because he's got something that no other pitchers have."
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Hjelle made two appearances for Kapler this spring, allowing a run and striking out four of the 12 batters he faced. Kapler complimented the way he looked, and when Hjelle was optioned out of camp, he said the Giants expect him to start games for them this year.
For the first time, Hjelle heads back to the minors as part of the 40-man roster. When the Giants need help -- and they will at some point -- he will be part of the mix, but for now he's trying not to think about how short the drive now is to Oracle Park.
"I'm just trying to be where my feet are," he said. "If the phone call happens, I'll be very happy when that phone call happens. When they hand me the ball, then it's game time."