{"id":629823,"date":"2026-03-18T11:16:44","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T11:16:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/629823\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T11:16:44","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T11:16:44","slug":"despite-depth-concerns-sf-giants-are-excited-about-their-pitching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/629823\/","title":{"rendered":"Despite depth concerns, SF Giants are \u2018excited\u2019 about their pitching"},"content":{"rendered":"

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. \u2014 Justin Meccage saw plenty of former colleagues Sunday when the Giants hosted the Brewers<\/a>, where he was their Triple-A pitching coach last year. His previous stop was in Pittsburgh, where he worked with Paul Skenes.<\/p>\n

In other words, Meccage knows young pitching. Perhaps not coincidentally, the Giants are putting an inordinate amount of their eggs in their own basket of young arms.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m more excited now about this group than I was coming in,\u201d the Giants\u2019 new pitching coach said Sunday. \u201cI think they\u2019re all high-level arms.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Pitching<\/p>\n

Pitching Coach Justin Meccage of the San Francisco Giants talks to players during Spring Training at Scottsdale Stadium. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Meccage was specifically talking about the group that includes Hayden Birdsong<\/a>, Landon Roupp, Carson Seymour, Carson Whisenhunt and Trevor McDonald.<\/p>\n

They were supposed to shoulder a larger load last season. But Roupp was the lone one to log 100 innings. Altogether they produced a 0.1 bWAR. The Giants missed the postseason and finished the year with three reliable starting pitchers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve done some things with a few of them that have elevated their status a little bit,\u201d Meccage said, citing Whisenhunt as one example. His fastball was up to 97 mph with better carry. He also introduced a power slider. \u201cEverybody\u2019s in a little different spot. Some guys it\u2019s being in-zone more. Some guys it\u2019s just getting their stuff better. Because if their stuff is better, then their confidence is better and they go out and they feel really good about competing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

The strides haven\u2019t quite yielded results this spring for Whisenhunt or Seymour. But Roupp and McDonald look poised to break camp as the No. 5 starter and bullpen swingman, respectively. Birdsong isn\u2019t likely to be an option after an MRI showed structural damage in his elbow.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the depth, just if you\u2019re talking about the whole group, is still strong,\u201d manager Tony Vitello said after Birdsong\u2019s injury. \u201cIf you\u2019re gonna boil it down to a bigger-picture question, I do feel good about the competitiveness and the depth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"San<\/p>\n

San Francisco Giants pitcher Trevor McDonald throws against the Cincinnati Reds. AP<\/p>\n

One reason for optimism has been the springs from veteran free-agent additions, Tyler Mahle and Adrian Houser, whose short-term contracts reflected their status as relative unknowns.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Mahle has made 30 starts once, and he\u2019s been limited to 125 total innings the past three seasons with elbow and shoulder issues. Houser generates ground balls but doesn\u2019t miss many bats. He hasn\u2019t made 30 starts once. But they look like good bets so far.<\/p>\n

Houser, 33, allowed a two-run homer but otherwise breezed through five innings in his last start. He may or may not have popped a 99, depending on how trustworthy the radar gun at Scottsdale Stadium is, but either way, his velocity has been up \u2014 consistently 94-96 mph.<\/p>\n

Meccage saw a lot of Houser, a former Brewer, in the NL Central.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s better right now than I\u2019ve ever seen him,\u201d Meccage said. Mahle, who hasn\u2019t allowed a run in three spring starts (six innings), \u201cis what we thought he would be. He\u2019s consistent. He has a really nice approach on what he wants to do and he goes out and executes it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Adrian<\/p>\n

Adrian Houser of the San Francisco Giants delivers a first inning pitch against the United States National Team during an exhibition game. Getty Images<\/p>\n

While Meccege said that Mahle \u201cadded a couple little tweaks to some pitches that we think are going to be really helpful,\u201d of Houser he said, \u201cI think there\u2019s big upside there we can tap into.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

With Roupp, it could shape up to be a solid five-man group with Logan Webb<\/a> and Robbie Ray anchoring it at the front. While Webb is away pitching Team USA into the WBC semifinals, Ray has gone nine innings without allowing a hit and was so locked in the last time he took the mound that he said afterward that he had been pitching in a \u201cflow state.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to forget Webb, who will start Opening Day, isn\u2019t the Cy Young winner in the rotation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe slider, he feels it\u2019s back to where it was in \u201821,\u201d Meccage said. When Ray won the Cy Young. \u201cWe identified some things in his delivery that probably were a little out of whack. I think the last two starts you\u2019ve seen a progression toward where he\u2019s going to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are still spots up for grabs in the bullpen, where the Giants must replace Tyler Rogers and Camilo Doval, both traded away at the deadline, as well as Randy Rodriguez, who is recovering from elbow surgery.<\/p>\n

\"Starting<\/p>\n

Starting pitcher Tyler Mahle of the San Francisco Giants pitches against the Kansas City Royals. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Vitello hasn\u2019t committed to naming a closer, but Meccage said that in the \u201cideal scenario\u201d they would have one pitcher dedicated to the ninth inning. He could envision Ryan Walker and Erik Miller splitting up the last six outs based on matchups, perhaps with an appetizer of Jose Butto.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

With Joey Lucchesi only coming into camp last week, Matt Gage appears to have the upper-hand as the bullpen\u2019s second southpaw but Meccage said, \u201cIt\u2019d be nice to have three lefties.\u201d<\/p>\n

Missing bats might be a problem, particularly without Doval or Rodriguez. Nobody vying for a role anywhere in the bullpen struck out a batter per inning last season. Miller has strikeout stuff, but he\u2019s been hampered by health issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019d always like to have more swing and miss,\u201d Meccage said. \u201cThat\u2019s kind of what we\u2019re doing with some pitch shape stuff and some structural stuff when we\u2019re making decisions with those guys: Who can we get miss from?\u201d<\/p>\n

Meccage will attempt to apply lessons from his time in Pittsburgh and Milwaukee in San Francisco. His deputy, Christian Wonders, comes from an organization with equally impressive credentials in pitching development, the Rays, and is considered a data guru. Frank Anderson followed Vitello from Tennessee to helm the three-man pitching operation.<\/p>\n

\"San<\/p>\n

San Francisco Giants pitcher Landen Roupp against the Chicago White Sox. Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Meccage praised the Pirates for identifying and developing starting pitchers and said the Brewers were \u201cas good as I\u2019ve ever seen in terms of combining the art and science.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s our goal, to kind of fill the gap,\u201d Meccage said. \u201cWhat does a player need? We can meet a player wherever they need to go. Whether they want to dig into pitch shapes or biomechanics or if they don\u2019t want to think about any of that and go the mindset route, I think we\u2019ve got all that covered.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. \u2014 Justin Meccage saw plenty of former colleagues Sunday when the Giants hosted the Brewers, where…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":629824,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2408],"tags":[11710,146,5,136,1449,945,27424,14558,49,50,1090,1076,1628,162,203,24039,60854,17166,112,12022,843,4,877,19891,776,297,1822,12396,946,378,66,4343,4340,33559,68472,4344,4341,4342,852,57061,1870,48585,91,948],"class_list":{"0":"post-629823","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco-giants","8":"tag-adrian-houser","9":"tag-arizona","10":"tag-baseball","11":"tag-brewers","12":"tag-butto","13":"tag-camilo-doval","14":"tag-carson-seymour","15":"tag-carson-whisenhunt","16":"tag-chicago-white-sox","17":"tag-cincinnati-reds","18":"tag-erik-miller","19":"tag-francisco","20":"tag-getty-images","21":"tag-giants","22":"tag-hayden-birdsong","23":"tag-joey-lucchesi","24":"tag-justin-meccage","25":"tag-landon-roupp","26":"tag-logan-webb","27":"tag-matt-gage","28":"tag-milwaukee","29":"tag-mlb","30":"tag-paul-skenes","31":"tag-pitching-coach","32":"tag-pittsburgh","33":"tag-rays","34":"tag-robbie-ray","35":"tag-roupp","36":"tag-ryan-walker","37":"tag-san-francisco","38":"tag-san-francisco-giants","39":"tag-sanfrancisco","40":"tag-sanfranciscogiants","41":"tag-scottsdale","42":"tag-scottsdale-stadium","43":"tag-sf","44":"tag-sf-giants","45":"tag-sfgiants","46":"tag-the-giants","47":"tag-the-kansas-city-royals","48":"tag-tony-vitello","49":"tag-trevor-mcdonald","50":"tag-tyler-mahle","51":"tag-tyler-rogers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=629823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629823\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/629824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=629823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=629823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=629823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}