Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports
PHOENIX, Ariz. — In the first camp of the Farhan Zaidi-Scott Harris-Gabe Kapler era, there are lessons to be gleaned about how the trio will evaluate players, what they will look for and why some will be cast off.
If Friday’s first round of major league cuts was the first peek at their messaging, it is becoming evident how much the new regime is emphasizing speed and defense.
The Giants, as currently constructed, are not a team that can slug past many rivals. They will hunt for advantages on the basepaths, in positioning, out-teaching, out-maneuvering and out-scheming.
Valuing some aspects of baseball on the margins — defensive play and speed very much included.
Chris Shaw, a 2015 first-round pick who has emerged in the minors but has not been able to transition successfully to the majors, was told he needs to become a standout hitter to compensate for his defense. Kean Wong, an intriguing infield pickup who can play the left side of the infield — his lefty bat could complement Evan Longoria’s — was told, in more generous terms, he’s too slow right now.
Both were instructed to work on their “first-step quickness.” In Shaw’s case, “He’s got to be a well-above-average offensive player [to stick in the majors] and he’s focused on that,” Kapler said after the 5-5 tie with the Brewers at American Family Fields of Phoenix.
In Wong’s case, the Giants were direct about his deficiency.
“One of the things that we talked to Kean about was when he’s taking ground balls with the best major league infielders around, he’s just a step behind those guys,” Kapler said about the 24-year-old, who now has to “work on dominating his at-bats at the minor league level, and he’s committed to doing those things.”
Another eye-opening demotion to minor league camp came from a power reliever who entered camp with an outside shot at earning the closer role. Jandel Gustave, who pitched to a 2.96 ERA in 24 1/3 innings last season, was moved down after a rough start to spring, allowing three runs in two innings while walking two.
The Giants love his 96-mph fastball. They want to see more from his slider.
“For Gustave to really be a guy for us, we really need to see a secondary pitch he can depend on and lean on in the zone and for swing and miss,” said Kapler, who will have his pick from a pretty wide-open bullpen contingent.
The Giants are now 15 games into the Cactus League and will want to start stretching their starters — or players who resemble starters, at least — out for longer. If the Giants didn’t think a player had a reasonable chance at making the Opening Day roster, they were brought down, and the team made that decision on 17 players.
The Giants employed an extreme shift against slugging lefty Justin Smoak, playing four outfielders and having no one on the left side of the infield. Kapler checked with Kevin Gausman before the game to make sure they were on the same page.
“If we can’t convince one of our veteran pitchers that this is the right play, we won’t do it,” said Kapler, who also teased they may experiment with a five-man infield. “We’ll play a traditional defense. More than anything else, we want our pitchers to have conviction on the mound. We want them to throw pitches with a ton of confidence. We understand that the perfect positioning is just a marginal advantage — a marginal upgrade. Sometimes the confidence level of the pitcher can outweigh that marginal advantage.”
The Giants shuffled the rotation, Trevor Cahill now starting Saturday and Shaun Anderson pushed back to Sunday. Kapler said Anderson, who has struggled, is “totally fine.”
Tony Watson will throw one more bullpen session then have live BP, Kapler said. The Giants still believe he can be ready for Opening Day.