Logan Webb, Tony Vitello, Turner Hill break down Giants' huge win over Rockies

Tony Vitello and Giants players speak to reporters following San Francisco's 7-1 win against the Colorado Rockies on Saturday at Oracle Park.

Logan Webb, Tony Vitello, Turner Hill break down Giants' huge win over Rockies originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

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What did you make of Turner Hills' debut?

It was great.

I'm a big fan of, He's got good rhythm at the plate, and then he keeps his hands back, at least had in the past, has really well, did on some takes today.

I think in this park and at this level, he's probably gonna n- the sack fly was great, but he's probably gonna need to make sure he works above the baseball at times and, you know, doesn't lift anything.

But that's kind of related to, I think, he does a really good job of keeping his hands back.

He seemed calm.

And I'll be dang if, you know, they say the ball will find you.

First ball in play is hit to him.

And then I think to come up in that situation with the bases loaded and the crowd's cheering and they know it's his second at-bat, to keep his heart rate, to where it looked like he was under control, I thought was pretty impressive.

Logan's only allowed two runs in the month of August so far.

Just what's made him so effective these first three starts of the month?

I just think that it's him.

I think he's always prepared relentlessly, but, so I don't know that he can prepare more or work harder, but I think he's made some adjustments in his preparation.

He's even worked with us on doing that.

I don't think it's anything crazy or insightful, but just in conversations with him, I think he's a great For all these young guys we have that we were talking about, that pool of players, he's a great example of how to prepare and how preparation can turn into confidence, and he's been ultra-confident out there.

He's super competitive.

I mean, you would've thought it was the end of the world because he gave up a run, but it's kind of w- the competitive spirit you want your guys to have.

And he's got great stuff.

But, I mean, before the game, I was talking with John about it.

He's got all these great attributes, but that's, that's a, a f- fun and valuable weapon to have.

And then, you know, the difference in today being a happy day for Webby and, and the team is, you know, those younger guys talked about, "We need to play better when he's pitching."

I mean, at least, i- the, you know, I'm not talking about scoring.

You're not gonna score this many runs every time, but every pitcher should have a little bit different flavor when you come to the park.

You should know who's pitching, and it should kind of add to the style of the day.

But I think everybody in San Francisco knows how you should show up to the park if you know Webby's got the ball.

And he only threw 80 pitches today.

Did the comebacker off the back shoulder- Yeah play into that?

Yeah, that started to tighten up on him a little bit.

I mean, it kind of, again, I think everyone in San Francisco, in San Francisco knew he wasn't gonna come out of the game.

But, I think Gresh was on top of it and knew that thing would tighten up.

It kind of hit him fairly square.

You know, if it's a playoff game, he's probably not coming out, but it did start to tighten up, so it was probably the best thing to do there.

Was it more back or shoulder?

Kind of a blend of.

I mean, I would point to, a little bit of the lat area.

Hey, Tony, you, you, you, you've talked a lot about drawing walks and- not issuing them, and today I think you struck out 11 and walked none, and then you drew three in the first four innings when you got all those runs.

Has that, has that been talked about, emphasized a, a lot- Yeah, I th- going forward?

Is that a big deal?

I, it is a big deal.

I mean, it's a game within the game.

I think it's fun, at least for you all and then for fans to be able to follow up on it, to come, in here in a game like last night, read into the insights or the controversies or anything that came up in the game.

But I wasn't trying to be, like, I'm not saying it in smart aleck fashion, but, like, last night we coulda just walked in and said, "We walked seven, they walked one.

Have a good night," you know?

I think we all know who won the game, and that's, you know, there's an exception to that I'm sure somewhere in the record books, but that's The, the game is, you know, I think more simple than sometimes we make it.

And if you can just win pitches, you know, by attacking the zone on, on defense a- and swinging at strikes on offense, that's the game within the game that usually pushes it one way or the other.

I- is there a reason, Drew Gilbert seems to be getting better and better as the season goes on?

I just think he's competitive.

And, you know, when you, when you consistently always wanna improve and do better, you start to solve problems.

And, that's kind of what I was alluding to with Webby.

I mean, the best guys I've been around are, are problem solvers, and it all starts with competitiveness.

And then alls it takes is some work.

And I think, you know, he's, he's slowly made adjustments throughout the whole year.

He and Hunter are pretty close.

I think he's done a pretty good job of looking for his pitches.

And then again, Wash always says that the more reps you pile up, the better you get at something.

Tony, there have been seasons recently where the team's a little bit out of it in September, and, but Logan's chasing whether top three Cy Young or w- w- win the innings title or something like that, so it's, maybe he's pitched through the rest of the way.

How do you handle him the next six weeks knowing how well he's throwing and how important it is to be a mentor, but also how many innings he has thrown in his career?

Yeah.

I, I think, a little bit of a delicate balance.

You know, one of the guys grilling me about Rupe every single start, I mean, the guy, the guy wants to pitch, needs to pitch, and there's, there's no reason he wouldn't pitch.

But I think you don't go to any extremes.

If there's two really difficult innings in a row, you might count that as three or four innings.

Rupe hadn't been over 100 pitches, I don't think, the whole year.

So I'm just using that as a parallel for, for Webby as, you know, I don't see a need to shut the guy down or, or do anything crazy on that end.

But also, I don't think we need to go to an extreme where, like last game, he's like, i- if you kind of can remember the data from last game, he's like, "I'll go out there and throw the ninth.

I'm still good."

But I think he was at 98 pitches or something like that, and it would've been nine innings.

So I just think, you know, walking a, not even a thin line, but a, a pretty broad line.

I don't know if that's a good answer or not.

It's probably not.

Didn't, I didn't go to Harvard Under Harry it's fine.

I'll be all right.

He did get me pre- got me pretty good, but, just have a little bruise from it.

You both, two runs in for about the longest inning.

That's seven straight out.

He just, eight straight out with the six that he just busted Warden so well.

Sorry.

Just being able to mix and adapt.

I know I threw, threw my two seams today, you know, they're, just kind of how the game went.

But I think just being able to, you know, mix things and you try different things and, you know, today my fourth seam was working, so I went to that well a little bit more than usual and, I feel like I've been able to do that a little better recently.

Were you balancing, like you went back up to the six after getting hit there- Mm-hmm trying to do what you normally do with also knowing who you guys are, but if I, will I try, and maybe just sit after five?

Yeah, I mean, I, I mean, I wanted to go out there no matter what.

But I was, you know, I was talking to Dave, about it, and he was like, "Hey, if it, you know, starts tightening up, just let me know," and, it just definitely tightened up a little bit.

But, it-- we'll get through that, that last one and then, just trying to be smart.

Lowey, the seam's kind of defined.

Do you still feel like when you go out there, you have a chance to kind of set a tone and look?

Yeah, I mean, I, I think it doesn't matter what team you're on.

If you're the starting pitcher, you're always just trying to set the tone.

But definitely with our team right now, I think I saw yesterday we have I think it's 18 guys with less than two years service time on our team.

So, yeah, you know, we're, I've been, been here for a while.

You know, I don't think I'm probably the most vocal on our pitch, right?

I'm like not going to be the most vocal, vocal guy, but if I can do it with how I work each day and go out there and try to set the tone, how I, I do things, I think, you know, that's a very good thing as well.

Just ki- kind of building off that, how important is it for you to set the example of guys that are either making their debuts or still trying to get their feet wet here at the Major League level?

Yeah, I mean, we got some good, good dudes here.

I, I really wish, wish Chappy's You know, it sucks that he's hurt right now, but he's a great guy.

He's helped me a ton.

Just watching him work every day, makes you want to work as hard as him.

It's hard.

But, but yeah, I think there's, there's some- there's a good group of dudes here that, that do things well.

I think having Robbie here was great too with, you know, the young pitchers.

You know, we got a lot of just in general, just young spots all over the place, including our coaching staff, to be honest.

So, so if you can set the tone with how you, you go about your business every day, not just the day you throw or play, but, also how you, you know, do your work and how you treat people around here, I think that's a big thing.

And, obviously the day you pitch, you wanna, yeah, set the tone.

Think our big thing right now is just make sure we're throwing strikes.

You've got a nice little elevation.

We got, 1100 strikeouts.

Just, what's that mark media?

Yeah, I was, I, I I was a little confused right now, to be honest.

I saw it on the board and I was like, "No way they're going to do this right now."

And they, you know, some clapping.

I think it messed up Norby a little bit.

He was like, "What's going on?"

And I'm like, "No, no, just get in the box.

Like, we're fine."

but it's always, you know, I, the fans have treated me so well here and to hear people cheering for that is, is cool.

There was no significance of it.

I didn't even know that was going to happen.

I think hopefully there's some better milestones further down the road.

But, but yeah, I was, I don't think that was like a tip the cap moment or wave your glove moment.

It was just, you know, 1100 strikeouts.

So, but, did have some teammates come and say like, "Oh, congratulations."

I was like, "What the fuck?"

So, but, but yeah, obviously it's a very nice gesture by the fans and obviously the people who put it all the, the big board.

So, appreciate it.

Friends at all share?

No, I couldn't hear him playing.

I saw my brother, he came out in left field and I saw him, but, I couldn't hear him, hear him cheering, no.

You probably waited, you know, a long time for this moment.

How do you encapsulate the emotions of the game getting to make your debut?

It, it was everything I expected.

You know, the nerves, the excitement, everything you can imagine.

So yeah, it, it was an awesome feeling.

Is it kind of nice to have the play ball right away just to knock out any butterflies you might have floating around?

Yeah, that definitely eased the nerves for sure.

Just the first one, get that out of the way, and then same with after the first at bat.

You know, it didn't go the way I wanted to, but that, that eased the nerves and helped me just kind of get in the flow of the game.

You have a 26-game hitting streak sack, but getting your first RBI sack, why would a sport or story do you mind about at bat and how did that feel?

Yeah, I mean, I would've liked to knock today.

But you know, that at bat, I was just trying to get something up and hit something in the air to drive the run in.

So I think I got a changeup off and, you know, did enough to, to get the job done.

What's it like not just being able to make your debut, but to play behind someone like Low?

Yeah, that was awesome.

You know, just, just watching him and you know how great he's been.

So it was awesome to get to play behind him in my debut.

Did anyone come up to you and offer any words of advice or encouragement, before you went out there today?

Yeah, I mean, today and yesterday I've, I've had, you know, quite a few people come and just, you know, tell me what it's going to feel like, what the experience will be and, you know, the guys in the clubhouse have, have been a great help for me.

Well, did, did you get that first RBI call?

Did you get- Yes, I did get that.

Okay.

Yep.

What are you gonna do with that ball?

I'm not sure yet.

You know, maybe send it back home with my parents and yeah, that's probably what I'll do.

You know roughly how many friends and family you have here today?

I don't know the exact number.

Somewhere probably between, like, 20 and 30.

Like, half the section.

Yeah, it was, it was a pretty good group, pretty good turnout.

Sounded more like 200 or 300.

Oh, it sounded more like- They were loud.

Really?

Yeah, I, I couldn't hear them.

But yeah, they're, they're usually pretty rowdy.

Yeah.

So if your brother was in the left field, like, he went out to the featured?

Yeah, like, in between innings, you know, when we're warming up in the outfield, I looked back and I, I just, I saw him yelling at me.

That was the only thing I was able to see from my family.

Mm-hmm.

What's your brother's name?

What was he yelling?

Cale.

What was he yelling?

He was I don't I couldn't hear what he was yelling, but I just saw him waving, waving his arms, so I threw the ball to him.

Nice.

In between innings, yeah.

Well, let's go straight to the source, because we hear that Drew Gilbert is standing by Oracle Park.

Drew, hello.

Kyle and Mill, Sean Estes here.

Thank you so much for the time, and congratulations.

We're just talking about how you led off for the first time today.

You end up going three for four, home run, three ribbies.

What was it?

Was it being at the top of the order?

Like, did you eat your Wheaties today?

What was it that led to that kind of production?

It was fun to watch.

No, I wish I had an answer to that, 'cause then I'd try to do that every single day, you know?

No, I think it's just part of the game, you know?

And I think it's just trying to win a ball game, you know, trying to have competitive at bats.

You know, any time you have a horse like Logan Webb on the mound, you know, you wanna take advantage of those days and, come up with a victory for him.

'Cause I mean, he's been, he's been nails all year for us and his whole career here.

So I think we owe it to him, this organization, and these fans to come out and try to win.

Drew, I'm sure you've probably hit lead off at some point in your career, be it high school, college, even in the minor leagues, but, first time this year in the big leagues.

What's the mindset?

Does it change at all, when you're the first batter of the game?

I mean, I think you try to make it the same, you know?

I think you can psych yourself out a little bit if you get too jacked up for that first at bat.

Obviously, in an ideal world, you wanna get on, no reaction, just keep moving.

But, yeah, you wanna get on base.

You know, that, you wanna set the tone.

Obviously it's not gonna happen every single game, but you know, it was nice to get on base and, you know, at the end of the day, it's good to get a win.

Well, out of all your f- you had five at bats today.

What, w- what, what, what at bat were you the most impressed with with yourself?

Obviously a home run's a big one, but I thought you had some quality at bats.

I thought the lead off at bat of the game w- was pretty solid, but of all five at bats, excluding the last one, the, the first four at bats, what was your favorite at bat today?

I don't know if I, have a, you know, particular at bat that I like the most.

Maybe I'll just say whichever one helped us win the most.

And I'll let you, you guys decide on which one that was.

But, y- you know, I don't know.

I, I, you try to take e- each pitch, pitch to pitch, at bat to at bat.

You know, and, you know, having guys like Rafi and Bryce and Jung Hu behind me, you know, it kind of gets my mindset in just get on base and, you know, let them hit me in.

So, maybe not trying to do too much.

Sometimes less is more.

Yeah, I would say your first at bat then, Drew.

Because, they got, they got up early one-zero.

And you answered right back with a home run, got the offense, the momentum they needed.

In the next inning, you got, you guys pumped out six.

But all in all, great game today.

Fun to watch.

Drew, real quickly- Thank you, guys I want to ask about your defense, 'cause you've been starting pretty consistently here the last few weeks at center field.

How have you grown in that aspect of the game, as you've gotten more opportunities with a big league club?

Sure.

I think, you know, hitting, there's, you know, ebbs and flows that go with it, right?

Especially as a young player.

You know, you're facing the best of the best.

And, you know, whether you like it or not, there's, there's an adjustment period.

And it's hard to be, you know, productive every single day, no matter how hard you try.

So I think, you know, understanding that you can be productive on defense, and as a base runner every single day is super important.

I think that's how you keep yourself in the lineup.

And I've tried to really, emphasize that to myself.

And you know, I still got a long ways to go.

And I try to get better every single day.

But, you know, i- it's a, it's a day-to-day thing.

You try to bring it every single day.

All right.

Well, Drew, thank you so much.

Congrats.

We'll let you go dry off, but really well done.

No reaction to the Powerade shower.

Impressive.

I know.

It was freezing.

I'm not gonna lie.

Let's hear now from Turner Hill, who's joining us from Oracle Park, who had a very special day.

Major league baseball debut.

Turner, congratulations.

Great to have you on here on Toyota Giants Post Game Live.

I want to go back to that fourth inning.

Tie ball game, bases loaded.

You step up and you do enough to score, what at the time, was the go-ahead run.

What was going through your mind at that at bat?

I was just trying to stick to my approach.

Look for something middle and get something up in the air.

Well, you did that.

You did that.

Hey, Turner, congratulations, on, on your debut today.

Got your first big league RBI.

I wanna know though, you probably knew you were gonna play today, I- I'm assuming.

Tony probably told you last night.

But how'd you sleep last night?

What were the nerves like today?

How'd you manage your pass list?

What'd you feel like when you got in the box for the first time?

I know a lot of questions, but this is your debut, so you, you, you earned them.

Yeah, I actually slept pretty good last night, 'cause I didn't sleep as good the night before.

But yeah, I had some nerves coming into the game obviously.

And, you know, after the first at bat Well, the first ball was hit to me.

That helped.

And then the first at bat, I, I felt like I settled in and felt comfortable.

But yeah, I've got a big group of people here, this weekend, my family and friends from back home.

As you should.

Took you You're 27 years old making it.

You, you have a great story, man, and a story of persistence.

But you've had a tremendous run in AAA this year.

Set a record for, for a 26 game hit streak.

So how you feeling right now in the box?

You gotta be feeling pretty comfortable.

Yeah, I was feeling really comfortable, you know, the last month to two months, in AAA.

So, you know, the goal is just to, to build off that and keep going up here.

I wanna ask a little bit, Turner, about your personal journey that Sean just mentioned.

You played both division II and division III in college.

You didn't get drafted.

You end up now making your major league debut at 27 years old.

How would you describe the grind that it took to get to this moment, and kinda what your whole journey encompassed?

Yeah, definitely wasn't, you know, the conventional route to get here.

But I think it makes it a lot sweeter.

You know, my goal was to just be present wherever I was at, be where my feet are, and just grind.

And, you know, whenever opportunities come my way, just to, to try to make the most of them.

Well, you did today.

First career RBI, and now your first interview on the Post Game show in your major league baseball debut.

So Turner, we'll let you go.

Congratulations.

Congratulations, Turner.

Go celebrate.

Yep, go celebrate.

Get yourself a shower.

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