SAN FRANCISCO — With Logan Webb off to Arlington, Texas, to represent the Giants in the All-Star Game, the consensus among his teammates seems to be, What took so long?
“It’s nice to see he’s finally getting what he deserves,” said catcher Patrick Bailey.
“About time,” added left-hander Kyle Harrison. “To finish second in the Cy Young and not be an All-Star is kind of weird, in my opinion.”
In typically reliable fashion, Webb made his third Opening Day start on March 28 and has taken the ball just about every fifth day since, making a strong bid to maintain his crown as the major league’s innings leader while limiting hitters to a 3.47 ERA, 14th among qualified National League starters.
It looks a lot like his first halves in 2022 (7-3, 2.98 ERA) and 2023 (8-7, 3.14), but the Giants’ ace is, at last, getting his due.
“It’s just an honor to be able to say I’ll be an All-Star for the San Francisco Giants,” Webb told reporters upon getting the news last Sunday. “I wasn’t expecting anything — I thought in the past, I might’ve been (an All-Star) — so I went into it thinking, ‘Whatever happens, happens.’”
Webb finished second (to Blake Snell) in the NL Cy Young balloting last season but, as Harrison alluded, wasn’t deemed one of the NL’s top 17 pitchers when All-Star selections were made that summer. He started the Giants’ final game before the break, so he wouldn’t have been eligible to pitch and teammate Alex Cobb was chosen over him. The same thing happened in 2022, when Webb started the Giants’ last game of the first half and Joc Pederson was their lone representative.
Finally getting his name called this year, it would be reasonable to think Webb took another step in his development. In the second half of 2021, he introduced himself as one of the top pitchers in the National League, in 2022 made his first Opening Day start and in 2023 signed a $90 million extension, further cementing his place atop the starting rotation.
“I don’t think so, man,” Bailey said. “I feel like he’s been a steady horse for the past three years. I think the biggest tip of the cap is he’s done this consistently over the past three years.”
“He’s the same old Webby,” Harrison said. “I think that’s the cool thing.”
Of the more than 1,200 arms to throw a pitch in the major leagues since the start of 2022, none of them have recorded as many outs as Webb. He has accumulated 532⅔ innings over than span, 20 more than the next-closest pitcher, while pitching deep in games and, no small feat in today’s game, staying healthy.
Webb has made 85 starts without being skipped for injury since he opened the 2022 season. He has completed seven or more innings in those starts 36 times, the most in the majors in that span.
Despite what his teammates say, there is something that sets this season apart. Webb is shouldering an even larger load.
“More than anything for us, what we’ve gone through on the pitching end in this first half, the starters that have gone down or are not here, for him to go out there and give us seven innings every time? I can’t tell you how much that has helped,” manager Bob Melvin said. “He embraces being the guy to go out there and give you those innings.”
While Webb pitched the most innings in the majors last season, the Giants still managed to receive fewer innings from their starting pitchers than any other team. Webb’s 216 accounted for 29.6% of the teamwide total. History is repeating itself this season.
With Robbie Ray and Alex Cobb sidelined and limited contributions from Blake Snell in a rotation also reliant on a pair of rookie starters (Harrison, Keaton Winn) and a converted reliever (Jordan Hicks), the Giants have once again gotten the fewest contributions from their starting pitchers despite possessing the league’s top workhorse.
At the conclusion of his final start of the first half, Webb was responsible for 29.1% of the innings from the Giants’ starting rotation.
In his first year at the helm, Melvin hoped the circumstances would be different. But he’s learned Webb is up for the task.
“He’s got a really great personality, and it’s the same everyday,” Melvin said. “And it’s not like on pitch day it’s one of those guys you just walk wide circles around — I’ve had plenty of those guys — you can’t tell whether he’s pitching that day or not pitching that day. He’s right in the middle of everything with his teammates. He’s invested with the Giants and has a pride in being here. There’s so many things that he brings to the table with this team. Certainly, as a staff, you appreciate that.”
