SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Whether it’s lineup construction or bullpen maintenance, Tony Vitello’s every decision with the San Francisco Giants this season will come with an extra layer of scrutiny. That’s just how it goes when you’re the first college head coach with no professional experience to make the leap to manage a major-league team.
But making game-level decisions might be the most cut-and-dried aspect of the job. There are less visible and more intriguing issues that will challenge any first-year manager. Will Vitello hesitate to fine a veteran who shows up late to a meeting? Or bench someone for not hustling? Will he take an ultra-talented young pitcher to task for failing to meet basic expectations?
Vitello definitively answered that last question Thursday afternoon. He didn’t like what he saw from right-hander Hayden Birdsong in the fifth inning against the Colorado Rockies. And he let reporters know it.
“I just don’t think he came away throwing the ball as well as he can,” Vitello said after Birdsong allowed three runs on four hits, a walk and a wild pitch. “He’s certainly got good stuff. That’s kind of been beat up ad nauseam. But as far as just watching body language, presence, how he threw the ball, I think he’s capable of better. The competition (in camp) is pretty good. It was an offensive day, but (he’s) capable of better.”
It wasn’t exactly a scalding assessment. Vitello chose his words carefully. But the subtext was hard to miss, especially when it was Blade Tidwell, not Birdsong, who received the start against the Colorado Rockies.
If anyone was wondering whether Vitello would be an authority figure who acts … well, authoritatively, then they got their answer. Birdsong can’t control bad bounces or unlucky breaks. But he can control his demeanor, and Vitello didn’t try to sugarcoat his evaluation of a player who he felt was putting out bad vibes on the mound.
So, for the purposes of this STOCK UP/STOCK DOWN exercise, let’s start by boosting the share price of the manager.
STOCK UP: Tony Vitello
Games have gone smoothly thus far with Tony Vitello in charge. (Matt Kartozian / Imagn Images)
The Giants haven’t maintained their string of clean innings from their first four exhibition victories — they lost 11-3 to the Rockies at Scottsdale Stadium one day after the Milwaukee Brewers rallied for a 13-12 victory at Maryvale — but the games have been run seamlessly from the bench and the workloads have been well distributed. The esprit de corps has been professional and upbeat. That’s a testament to Vitello’s entire staff. But give him credit for being the leading voice in putting that staff together.
More importantly, we’ve learned that Vitello will be assertive and take action when he sees something he doesn’t like. He can’t manage big leaguers like college sophomores, of course. But the fastest way to earn respect from players is to carry yourself like you are worthy of it. That doesn’t seem to be a problem at all thus far this spring.
STOCK DOWN: Hayden Birdsong
Sort of obvious, right? It sure doesn’t seem like Birdsong has gotten over whatever mental block derailed him last season. In two exhibition appearances, he’s retired just four batters while allowing eight runs on seven hits and three walks.
Vitello said Birdsong had the opportunity to throw a second inning Thursday, but he barely scraped through the fifth on 32 pitches. An error by second baseman Luis Arraez didn’t help, but Birdsong was already deep in traffic when that miscue occurred.
The one positive is that Birdsong got six swings, including three whiffs on the nine sliding cutters he threw. (Statcast still calls it a slider but Birdsong describes it as a cutter hybrid.) In Birdsong’s previous outing Saturday against the Seattle Mariners at Peoria, he struggled to throw the cutter for strikes, and while he claimed to be “all-in” on the coaching staff’s suggestion to incorporate the pitch, he didn’t sound so convincing.
When asked last week what made that pitch important, Birdsong replied, “I’m not really sure, honestly.” He continued by saying he tried to eliminate the pitch when he couldn’t master it last season. “In my brain, I’m like, ‘Why wouldn’t I just focus on the pitches that I have and maybe we’ll go back to it?’ But I’ll work on it, and hopefully we’ll work it in.’”
The Giants were hoping that Birdsong would impress this spring and be impossible to keep off the Opening Day roster, perhaps as a difference-making long reliever. There’s still nearly a month to go before Opening Day. There’s time for Birdsong to turn it around. After two outings, anyway, he’s looking like a long-term project bound for Triple-A Sacramento.
STOCK UP: Blade Tidwell, Trevor McDonald
One door opens and another closes. That’s true for the bullpen gate as well. Tidwell, who pitched for Vitello at Tennessee, is a daunting physical presence who throws everything hard including a slider that could have “Smoke On The Water” as a soundtrack. He threw the sweeping pitch 15 times in two innings Thursday and generated 11 strikes, including six whiffs.
The Giants are keeping options open with Tidwell and several other pitchers on the 40-man roster who figure to contribute in a starting or relief role this season. Tidwell threw two innings on Thursday and Vitello, when asked if the right-hander would be stretched to three innings in his next outing, responded that reporters could make a “safe educated guess.”
Right-hander Trevor McDonald’s stock is rising as well. His fastball was up to 97 mph and he appears to be dialed in with all four of his pitches. With their rotation full at the moment, perhaps McDonald, not Birdsong, becomes the starting pitcher who is simply too good to send down at the end of camp.
STOCK DOWN: Tyler Mahle, Adrian Houser
It’s early. We’ve mentioned that, right? So there’s no real concern that Tyler Mahle hasn’t faced hitters yet after an illness pushed back his first live session against hitters. It’s probably not a concern that Adrian Houser couldn’t put away any Milwaukee hitters on Wednesday after running two-strike counts against six of them.
Yet if the Giants were holding a blind competition to fill out the rotation this spring, stripping away guaranteed salaries, there’s little doubt that McDonald and Tidwell would be the front-runners to round out a starting five headed by Logan Webb, Robbie Ray and Landen Roupp.
STOCK UP: Caleb Kilian
Of all the non-roster pitchers in camp, right-hander Caleb Kilian appears to have the biggest jump in fastball velocity. He topped out at 99.1 mph on Wednesday against the Brewers and threw 13 pitches harder than anything he’d ever thrown during his major-league appearances with the Chicago Cubs. Kilian, whom the Giants dealt to the Cubs for Kris Bryant at the trade deadline in 2021, only touched 97 mph once in 27 1/3 big-league innings.
STOCK DOWN: Joel Peguero
Right-hander Joel Peguero might have entered the spring with incumbent status after posting a 2.42 ERA in 17 appearances last season (and he could scoff at your 99 mph because he’s thrown 102). But he’s been set back with a tender hamstring. It was a minor injury and a precaution to push back Peguero’s throwing regimen, and he’s close to facing hitters on a back field. With so many other pitchers throwing well in camp, though, you’re moving backwards if you’re standing still.
STOCK UP: The starting outfield
Harrison Bader is 5-for-11 with three extra-base hits in Cactus League play. (Rick Scuteri / Imagn Images)
Harrison Bader, Jung Hoo Lee and Heliot Ramos came to camp already prepared for competition. The trio of forecasted Opening Day outfielders have combined to hit 13-for-30 with four doubles, two home runs, a triple, six runs scored and nine RBIs while striking out just twice. The Giants said goodbye to Lee on Thursday as he left to join the Korean team in Tokyo for the World Baseball Classic. Bader (Israel) and Ramos (Puerto Rico), who showed up as a bleached blond Thursday, will depart in the middle of next week.
In their limited time together, they already demonstrated group cohesion. Bader’s take-charge presence figures to make a difference in center field. This was a leaderless group last season and it showed in physical errors, tentative play and uneven communication. There’s reason to believe that all of those aspects will improve this year. Lee already demonstrated that his arm can be an asset with a move to right field, too.
STOCK DOWN: Drew Gilbert
One more time: It’s really, really early. With all three starting outfielders playing in the WBC, Gilbert will get a ton of reps in exhibition games, as will youngsters like Bo Davidson and Victor Bericoto. It’s not as if Gilbert has gotten off to a poor start this spring as he reunites with his former Tennessee head coach. But the avenue for Gilbert to make the Opening Day roster would appear to be narrowing.
The Giants probably need to carry a left-handed hitting reserve if they determine that first baseman/DH Bryce Eldridge should begin at Triple-A Sacramento. Even if that ends up being the case, the signing of former Cleveland Guardians outfielder Will Brennan means that the competition for Gilbert has gotten stiffer since the first day of camp. What if Brennan fails to impress this spring? The Giants might still prefer to let Gilbert develop by playing every day at Sacramento, and instead carry Grant McCray, whose speed and defense (and his aggressive use of those skills) would be assets off the bench for a team that wants to compete at maximum intensity.