SEATTLE MARINERS NOTES:
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SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS NOTES:
BACK IN THE BAY: The Giants open a seven day, six game homestand against the Mainers (tonight-Wednesday) and Rockies (Friday-Sunday)…San Francisco is coming off an East Coast trip to Toronto (1-2) and New York-NL (1-2) where they went 2-4…since winning 10 straight contests from June 11- 21, SF has gone 4-6 in its last 10 games.
HEY NOW YOU’RE AN ALL-STAR: Yesterday, Major League Baseball announced RHP Camilo Doval will represent the Giants at this year’s All-Star Game, which is taking place at T-Mobile Park in Seattle on Tuesday, July 11…it marks the closer’s first All-Star selection…Doval has posted a 2-2 record with a 1.89 ERA and gone 24-for-26 in save opportunities over 38 games this year…entering play today, his 24 saves rank as the most in the National League and are tied with CLE’s Emmanuel Clase and TOR’s Jordan Romano for the most in the Majors.
SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE: The Giants are 11-5 (.688) all-time at home against the Mariners, their second-best home record against any club since moving to San Francisco…the Giants have won five straight at Oracle Park against the Mariners, the team’s second-longest active home win streak against any team (seven straight vs. Phillies)
KEEP GRINDING…: The Giants have been one of the best teams in baseball over the last two months, posting a 35-22 record since May 1…SF’s .614 winning percentage in that stretch is the second-best in the Majors behind the Braves (38-18, .679)…this recent success is in large part due to the bullpen, who’s sporting a MLB-best 2.76 ERA with an MLB-high 265 strikeouts in that stretch…the 265 strikeouts are 31 more than the next closest team (Kansas City at 234).
MISSING LINK: OF Michael Conforto has missed the Giants’ last five games after leaving Wednesday’s game in Toronto with left hamstring tightness after making a catch up against the railing in the bottom of the 1st…according to SIS, the Giants OPS vs. right-handed pitching when he starts is .759, compared to .698 when he doesn’t…the Giants are 39-26 when Conforto starts versus anyone and 7-12 otherwise…in SF’s last five games without Conforto the offense has posted a.198 team batting average and a .596 OPS.
SPEED DEMON: IF Thairo Estrada has accounted for 43.9% of the Giants’ stolen bases (18/40) in 2023…his 43.9% is the third highest percentage of a team’s stolen bases behind ATL’s Ronald Acuna Jr. (58.2%) and OAK’s Esteury Ruis (48.2%) (Stats, LLC).
THE MAGIC NUMBER…: Four runs seems to be the magic number for the Giants this season as when they’ve done that they are 42-12 (.778)…on the flip side, when they score three or fewer runs they are 4-26 (.133)…that winning percentage is seventh-worst in the Majors.
WEBB SLINGER: RHP Logan Webb will take the mound for the Giants tonight…despite being one of SF’s most consistent starters this season, he had one of his worst outings of the season in his last start on Wednesday in Toronto…Webb allowed a season-high five runs on eight hits with five strikeouts and no walks…according to SIS, one of the biggest differences in his last outing was the fact that the Blue Jays were on top of his changeup, and recorded four hits (two doubles) against it and missed on only 1 out of 21 swings, which was a large contrast to his last start when he got 17 outs with his changeup…however, Webb has been lights out at Oracle Park, posting a 2.31 ERA and a .227 opponents average in seven starts, all of which have been quality outings.
WHAT DOES HE DO? HE GETS ON BASE: C Patrick Bailey has now reached base safely in 18 consecutive games dating to June 9…his 18-game on base-streak is longest by a Giants rookie since Mike Yastrzemski also had an 18-gamer from September 6-27, 2019…below are the five most recent streaks by SF rookies including Bailey’s.
IN GOOD COMPANY: C Patrick Bailey played his 35th big league game last night and his production has put him with some all-time names…according to Stats, LLC, he is one of five Giants to have 35+ hits and 25+ RBI in their first 35 games of their MLB career…Bailey is also the fourth catcher to have at least 35 hits and 25 RBI through 35 MLB games (since 1920), joining Willians Astudillo, Russell Martin and Bob Rogers.
TODAY’S STARTER – LOGAN WEBB RHP #62
2023 RECORD: 7-7, 3.43 ERA
WITH THE GIANTS: Is in the midst of his fifth season with SF…made his fourth career Opening Day roster and his second consecutive Opening Day start with his outing on March 30 at the Yankees… signed a five-year, $90 million extension on April 14 that keeps him in a Giants uniform through 2028…the contract bought out his final two arbitration years and first three years of free agency.
LAST TIME OUT: Webb had one of his worst outings since the early parts of the season last Wednesday in Toronto…the Blue Jays ambushed him for five runs in the 1st inning, the most he’d allowed in any 1st inning in his career, en route to a 6-1 victory…Webb was able to bounce back and finish 5.0 innings, allowing just the season-high five runs on eight hits with five strikeouts and no walks.
JUNE SWOON: After posting a 1.30 ERA in five starts during May, Webb logged a 4.70 ERA in six June starts despite the fact that he worked 7.0 innings in four of the six outings…Webb went 3-2 in June and the Giants won four of his six starts during the month… he permitted five homers in 38.1 innings (he allowed one in 34.2 innings in May)…as you can see from the chart below, Webb used his changeup much more in June and his sinker was hit much more than it was in May.
I WATCHED A CHANGE…IN YOU: Through his first four starts this year opponents hit .344 with a .563 slugging % off his changeup… in his last 13 starts, opposing hitters have gone 31-for-162 (.191) against the pitch with six extra-base hits, 44 strikeouts and eight walks…last time out, however, the Jays went 3-for-9 with a double when AB’s ended with his changeup.
GOTTA MAKE WEBB DAY A WIN DAY…: Over the last 2+ seasons as Webb has come into his own, the Giants as a team are 47-27 (.627) in games that he has started since 2021… SF is 8-9 in his 17 starts this season after starting the year 1-5 in the first six games he started…going back a bit further, SF is 13-13 in his last 26 starts dating to August 13, 2022…in those 26 starts, Webb has received one or fewer runs of support 12 times…he himself has a 3.02 ERA in those 26 starts while posting an 8.63 K/9ip ratio and a 4.67 K/BB ratio.
SUPPORT SYSTEM: As mentioned above, the Giants have given Webb one or fewer runs of support in just under half (12) of his last 26 starts dating to August 13, 2022…this season, Webb’s 3.67 run support average is seventh-lowest in the Majors among qualified pitchers.
VS. SEATTLE: Is making his third career start against the Mariners tonight and is facing them for the first time since 2021…he’s 0-1 with a 6.97 ERA (8er, 10.1ip) in his prior two starts against Seattle…in his lone start against them here at Oracle he allowed five runs on six hits in 5.0 innings back on September 8, 2020.
LIMITING THE FREEBIES: Entering tonight’s start Webb’s 4.8% walk rate would be the lowest of his career (his best season was a 6.0% walk rate in 2021)…overall, Webb’s career walk rate is 6.4%… he’s walked only 21 of the 442 batters he’s faced so far in 2023.
THE HOMERS…: After giving up just one homer in five May starts spanning 34.2 innings he allowed five homers in 38.1 innings in June…in total he’s allowed 13 homers this year in 110.1 innings, already two more than he allowed all of last season in 192.1 innings…his 2.9 HR% is tied for the highest of his career with his 2019 rookie season…for reference Webb’s HR% rates the last three seasons were 1.4% (2022), 1.5% (2021) and 1.6% (2020).
THE THRILL OF THE CHASE…: This season Webb’s chase rate is 31.3%, up from 30.7% a season ago…overall, his career chase rate average sits at 29.9%…in his last start, however, he had the Jay chase only 14.6% of pitches out of the zone, his lowest rate in a single game this season…for the month of June, Webb’s chase rate was 28.4%…it was 32.3% in May and 33.2% in March/April.
WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR?: Through his first 17 starts Webb has been worth 2.0 Wins Above Replacement according to Fangraphs…that total is 10th-best in the NL.
STAYING GROUNDED: His 61.7 groundball percentage this season is up from last year’s 57.8% mark and above his career average of 58.5%…entering play today the 61.7 groundball % is-best in the Majors.
THAT’S STRIKEOUTS WITH A K: The righty has whiffed 106 batters in 110.1 innings so far in 2023 (8.65 K/9ip)…his 5.05 K/BB ratio is third-best in the NL and seventh-best in the Majors…for reference, Webb’s highest K/9 of his career came in his breakout 2021 season where he averaged 9.6 strikeouts per 9.0 innings…looking at this season a different way, Webb is striking out 24.0% of his batters faced (106 strikeouts in 442 batters faced)…last year his strikeout percentage was 20.7%.
EARLY RETURNS: Webb’s 65.2% first-pitch strike percentage is right around where he was last year (65.3%)…however, Webb has had five of his six lowest first-pitch strike totals on a per-game basis in each of his last five outings…his last start at Toronto was better (59.1%) than his 53.6% rate vs. Arizona the start prior but each of his five starts since June 7 have been below 63%…prior to that, Webb was only below 63% once in his first 12 starts and that was April 5 at the White Sox (50.0%).
