Source: Giants’ top pitching prospect to make major league debut

SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants are bringing their top pitching prospect, Logan Webb, to the major leagues.

Webb, the No. 5 prospect and the organization’s No. 1 pitching prospect according to MLB.com, flew to Arizona on Friday and will be activated Saturday to make his debut against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Bay Area News Group was first to report Webb’s call-up.

“He was throwing the ball well in Richmond, we thought he did a nice job in a start in Sacramento, so we’re going to slot him in,” manager Bruce Bochy said.

A fourth round draft choice by the Giants in 2014, Webb made just one start for Triple-A Sacramento before the organization brought him to Phoenix to join the big league club. Webb, 22, will be the youngest Giants pitcher to make his debut as a starter since then-20-year-old Madison Bumgarner tossed 5 2/3 innings against the San Diego Padres on September 8, 2009.

Webb logged seven innings and allowed just one run on Monday in his Sacramento River Cats debut against the Nashville Sounds, lowering his season ERA to 1.85 in 12 games.

“I had a lot of nerves going into it,” said Webb, a Rocklin, Calif. native. “My whole family, everyone from back home was there. It was that and it was Triple-A.”

Webb, 22, began the season with Double-A Richmond and made five starts before receiving an 80-game suspension for testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug. The suspension was the first of Webb’s minor league career and shocked the pitcher, who released a statement saying “something someday will be put into the world to prove my innocence.”

“I’ll never shake it honestly,” Webb said Friday. “It’s something I’ll kind of have to deal with forever. Unless, hopefully something comes out.”

Webb’s suspension makes him ineligible for the postseason if the Giants advance to the playoffs.

“It’s tough to think about,” Webb said. “But at the same time, I have my family, friends and teammates supporting me. Those are the people I’ll have to lean on. Yeah, I’ll definitely always have a little chip on my shoulder. I think I always have, but it’s a little bit bigger now.”

Webb was added to the Giants’ 40-man roster last offseason and spent the first half of spring training in big league camp. Bochy said Webb impressed the Giants’ coaching staff in Scottsdale and said he pitched well enough following his suspension to merit a look in a rotation in which a handful of young starters have auditioned this season.

“That’s a pretty big setback,” Bochy said of the suspension. “I didn’t know when that happened if he would be up here. But that’s a credit to him that he put that behind him, bounced back and he’s throwing the ball very well.”

Webb will be the seventh Giants pitcher since Bumgarner to make his MLB debut as a starter and the fifth in the last two seasons. Tyler Beede and Andrew Suárez debuted in the rotation in 2018 while rookies Shaun Anderson and Conner Menez made their first appearances with the Giants as starters earlier this season.

Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi said Thursday on KNBR that finding success in a major league rotation as a rookie is among the greatest challenges any player will face.

“It’s tough enough being a rookie, but the toughest way to break into the major leagues is as a starting pitcher,” Zaidi told KNBR. “To have that burden to get deep into a game, throw 100 pitches, get through a major league lineup multiple times, it’s not like being a reliever, it’s not like being a position player where if you struggled you can be hidden in the narrative of the game. When you’re the starting pitcher, there’s nowhere to hide.”

Cueto to start again Tuesday

Johnny Cueto will continue a rehab assignment on Tuesday with Single-A San Jose in Modesto against the Nuts, a Seattle Mariners affiliate.

Cueto threw 49 pitches over 2 2/3 innings for San Jose on Thursday in Visalia and allowed one run while striking out two hitters. Bochy said Cueto will start Tuesday and likely make more one rehab start at Triple-A before the Giants evaluate his progress and determine when he might be able to join the rotation.

Cueto underwent Tommy John surgery last August and is currently projected to pitch for the Giants during the first week of September.

Share this: Print

View more on The Mercury News