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It was the perfect irony only baseball could bring you. On his final start of the spring, just as the Giants had nearly finalized their starting rotation, ace Madison Bumgarner took a come-backer off the hand and broke his pinky. The day before, manager Bruce Bochy had announced that No. 3 starter Jeff Samardizja had a pectoral strain and could miss the start of the season. In a whirlwind 36 hours, and just a few hours before the team was slated to head back to San Francisco from Scottsdale, the Giants were suddenly without two of their top starters.
It isn’t how anyone of the organization would’ve painted it. It surely isn’t the start of the season Bochy, the front office or the fans had envisioned. Instead of a durable 1-2-3 punch from veterans Bumgarner, Johnny Cueto and Samardzija to start the season, the Giants instead utilized a four man rotation of Ty Blach, Cueto, non-roster invitee Derek Holland and Chris Stratton in a strategic schedule based on early off days. However, San Francisco couldn’t go on with a short rotation forever.
Cue Tyler Beede — at long last, the Giants number one pick in 2014 will make his major league debut Tuesday.
After the Giants 2-1 loss to the Diamondbacks Monday night, Bochy tabbed Beede as the starter for Tuesday’s game. It was a long time coming for the 24 year old, who was poised to make his debut last season for the Giants. However, an ill-timed groin injury in July sidelined Beede, ultimately for the rest of the season.
While it was hoped that Beede could finagle himself into the Giants’ starting rotation during the Cactus League season, a somewhat evident lack of control and command led to his option to Triple-A Sacramento near the end of March. In his 8.1 innings pitched over the spring, Beede gave up ten runs over 14 hits for an ERA of 10.80. The Giants were optimistic that Beede would have plenty of time to work on mechanics and build on confidence in the minor leagues, but the aforementioned series of unfortunate events led to an early call-up for the right hander.
Now Beede, an afternoon away from the big leagues, will rely on the lessons he learned from a veteran-heavy camp — including from the pitcher who’s injury (again, ironically) led to his debut. When asked in spring training about which veteran pitcher had helped him the most in camp, Beede was quick to give credit.
“It’s been easy to talk to Bum a lot just because I play catch with him every day,” he said. “The conversation flows organically between him and I whether it’s talking about things we’re doing on the mound, preparing. Mindset is a big thing we talk about.”
Beede said the two talked about “everything” during the spring, ranging from mindset, attacking hitters and pitching sequence.
“Obviously we’re very different pitchers, but I think you can take from his mindset things that he does and try to implement them into your game,” Beede said. “I think it gives you a certain edge. He pitches with an edge that makes pitchers feel uncomfortable, and I think he’s tried to help me gain that edge as well. It’s helped a lot for me.”
Beede’s first test will be no small feat, as he takes on the 8-2 Diamondbacks and early NL West leader at AT&T Park. The Diamondbacks have scored 47 runs this season, significantly higher than San Francisco’s (and MLB-worst) 25. Beede will face off against Patrick Corbin, Arizona’s Opening Day starter, who is 2-0 with a 1.38 ERA on the young season. First pitch is slated for 7:15 p.m.