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Tyler Cyr with Marty Lurie: ‘I’m a starter out of the bullpen’

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Unlike in the regular season, there are plenty of unfamiliar faces that pop up during Spring Training. On Saturday afternoon, Marty Lurie had the opportunity to sit down with one of the unfamiliar faces of the San Francisco Giants, 24-year-old right-handed reliever Tyler Cyr, and chatted about what he brings to the Spring Training table.

“I’m pretty much a starter out of the bullpen, that’s how I like to say it,” Cyr said. “Four or five pitch guy. I try to use those pitches to my advantage.”

Although this is Cyr’s first Spring Training with the Giants, he’s more than familiar with the storied franchise. Cyr grew up a quick trip on BART away from both AT&T Park and Oakland Coliseum in Fremont, California. Cyr took his Northern California roots to Daytona Beach, Florida, where he pitched at Embry-Riddle University before being drafted by the Giants in the tenth round of the 2015 MLB Draft.

“I wasn’t really expecting anything from the draft, I was just staying hopeful,” Cyr said. “I know that I had a decent year coming out of college and the next thing you know, I get a phone call and they said, ‘look for your name’ and it was a call from the Giants and next thing I knew my name popped up and I was ecstatic.”

After rocky start at Class-A in 2015, Cyr settled into the minor leagues and worked his way to Double-A Richmond last season, where he went 5-2 with a 2.19 ERA and 18 saves in 49.1 innings pitched. Prior to that, Cyr maintained a 2.32 ERA as he jumped from Augusta to the Single-A San Jose Giants in 2016.

“I’ll say I have a power sinker with a good changeup and a hard slider,” Cyr said. “Flash a curveball every once in a while, keep them honest. I like to mix it up. I can throw a four-seam as well.”

The Giants got to see those pitches in action when Cyr made his Spring Training debut during the Cactus League opener on Friday, giving up only two walks and recording a strikeout in one inning of work. Even if he doesn’t reach the major leagues this season, Cyr is doing his best to take advantage of the unique opportunity he’s presented with this spring.

“I like to learn a lot from the older guys,” Cyr said. “Stay humble. Stay grounded. This is obviously a dream come true, so I’m trying to stick to my roots. At the same time, like I said, learn a lot and have fun. Soak it all in. This is where you want to be. You want to be with the big league club and you want to take advantage of this opportunity.”

To listen to the full interview check out the podcast below, and skip to 8:05 for Lurie with Cyr.