Tony Vitello breaks down Carson Whisenhunt's strong outing in Giants' win
Giants manager Tony Vitello speaks to reporters after San Francisco's 4-1 win over the Houston Astros on Tuesday night at Oracle Park.
Tony Vitello breaks down Carson Whisenhunt's strong outing in Giants' win originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Video Transcript
Tony, it looked like, you know, Carson was kind of teetering on the edge there the first two innings, but then was super efficient the next three innings.
Just what kind of change for him there and from third inning onwards?
I think just the heart rate being down a little bit.
I mean, he's a guy who wants to win.
He's got a lot of intensity to him, and sometimes adrena- adrenaline can work against you.
The only common thing I see, and this is more like third grade stuff than anything, is just when he's in a rush with his delivery, he's not as good.
Command's not as good.
His stuff is plenty good.
I mean, kind of pop questions in here.
If He's done, he's done some pretty good things so far.
And he's young, and he's learning.
He can continue to do those things when he's at his best, but I think sometimes he works against himself, either going too fast mentally or going too fast physically, and probably sometimes they're tied into one another.
And a- these are just kind of my overall observations and probably a little bit what was going on there.
He's also, right out of the chute, you're seeing some big hitters.
You know, but, but part of it was shooting himself in the foot with some command there.
But I think it showed a tremendous amount of composure to do what he did, and I think once he, he, you know, kind of bought into what he was capable of doing, he seemed to kind of get in a little groove there confidence-wise.
When you look around the, at the, the impact that you got tonight, it was Wisenhunt, it was Eldridge, Gilbert, Cavanaugh, r- four rookies.
You know, how encouraging is it to have a night like tonight where you're getting so many contributions all around the board from your first-year guys?
Yeah, I mean, you know, the two guys with the most service time are, are Willie and, and Rafi.
They can't carry the load every night.
There's gonna be plenty of moments.
Those are two guys with 20 home runs or more.
You know, and, and Jung's in that category a little bit as well.
But we're the type of team that one through nine we gotta have productive at-bats.
And if you do that, then the one that maybe opens the gates a little bit or the one that finds a hole, because if you look at last night with McRae, Cavvy, and Gilbert I think all hit three missiles in a row at somebody.
And tonight Gilbert had got into one in center.
And then, it's a good thing we won tonight, by the way.
That wouldn't have gone over well last night.
But y- you know, eventually, you know, those quality at-bats, you'll get some productivity out of them.
So just encouraging in general.
I mean, it was a tough loss last night.
We haven't been that great in those situations as the season's gone on.
I don't know the winds have teetered so much in our favor, but they, it did tonight.
I feel like our group has been better at responding, to difficult nights like last night, and that was one of the best wins of the year, really.
Tony, when it comes to Wisenhunt, we ask a lot about, you know, third and fourth pitches.
Tonight it seemed like both the, both of those were working pretty well.
The sinker in particular, which he seemed like he was working in kind of later, what were your impressions about those pitches, and what kind of difference does that make for him if he can start really using those effectively?
Yeah, I think he's gotta find a, an understanding on just how to separate sinker from his four-seam.
I, I think there was a little bit of back and forth, y- you know, internally for him, and discussing with others, too, how much to go to the two-seam, and is it gonna interfere?
And there's It's probably like anything.
There's gonna be some growing pains to it, which this is not the best level to do that, and when it's like your third or fourth start.
But I, I, I think you gotta be okay with kind of going through the mud there a little bit to come out on the other side a little bit better.
He's gonna need it.
You know, just to be straight up and down, and tunneling over the plate, i- isn't gonna be enough, just to be frank.
But the changeup is a huge weapon.
If you have two different looks to your fastball, you got enough.
And then I think the slider is something we've talked about a bunch.
And, maybe the best At least me.
Frank gave me a weird look.
I, I thought the best one he threw of the night was to Alvarez, which is the biggest challenge i- in the lineup with all due respect to the other guys.
But again, I come back to the, the fact when it, when the slider's really good, the, the good ones are really good.
It's just a matter of being consistent with those as well.
So, something to get excited about.
But again, with his arsenal tonight, it wasn't like it was his best Vilo, his best slider, not even his best changeup night, but he gritted it out and, and kind of had a Logan Webb-type outing out there for a little bit for us.
Tony, you're hitting, Eldridge third n- between a couple of accomplished, batters.
I mean, do you sometimes have to remind yourself that this kid is 21, and he's doing it up here?
And would, would, It'd be kind of cool to see what he could do over a whole season next year, because he's, it seems like it's, it's no big thing, and it, and it is.
Yeah, I, I mean, I've got my own kind of theories about spring training, and then, guys like Gary Wash, Ting, they, they, they kind of had thoughts before spring training and after.
I feel like I got a little bit better understanding of it, but I do think it's huge for momentum going into the season.
I think the one thing, to answer your question, is Bryce could have a s- a stress-free spring training, if that makes sense.
You saw him pressing at times to want to establish himself and start the year with the club.
And, I, I think really just gaining the right momentum he needs out of spring training could trigger what you're talking about.
And then heck yes, it'd be fun to see an entire year of, how much better he's gotten defensively mixing in at first base.
He is more savvy on the base paths with the one stolen base and whatnot.
But also just finding a sweet spot in the order and kind of sticking somewhere similar.
We asked a lot of him in that leadoff spot, and I don't think people understand how much of a grenade that is to jump on, no matter who you are in the league as a hitter, unless you're, you've been doing it, Rickey Henderson, you've been doing it for a decade.
So yeah, I mean, it's He's a threat, but it's nice to have him in between those two veteran guys.
I think it helps his efforts as well.
Bryce has been playing every day for a while, and I- I When it gets to this time of the year, people kind of call it maybe the dog days of, of the season.
As he continues to play every day and the games pile on, have you noticed anything different about the way he goes about his business, maybe let's say over these last four weeks in comparison to maybe a couple months ago as he's grown, as the season's gone on?
No, I mean, hopefully it's not out of line to say I think we're a little bit thin there.
You know, in particular, you know, maybe a right-handed option is now available with Barracoda, where you might just do a day down.
I, I think dating back to a, a certain day in the recent past, it would've been the perfect day just to do it, even from the DH spot.
But he hasn't backed off the work.
As a matter of fact, he's kind of doing some agility stuff that I think has helped his footwork.
I just think everyone's really cautious in there.
We have these player development, player development meetings.
I think everyone's really cautious to make sure we're not overworking him.
And I think, you know, to the point of you gotta remind yourself, this dude's only 21.
He's super mature.
I think he knows how to gauge, to kind of keep it where it needs to be.
But yeah, I think a- as the reps start piling up, you gotta be careful about straying from who you are, getting too negative if, if it's not going well, just a few examples there.
And I think he's, he's caught himself doing that.
And, again, I, I think the level of maturity is one where you do gotta kind of remind yourself a little bit that it's pretty awesome he's, he's doing what he's doing at this age.
I feel like we only really ask about the third base coach when things go wrong.
So I wanted to ask you about Pettis tonight, and really the job he's done overall, but sending Cavanaugh there.
Yeah, I thought Jace was gonna tackle him in the dugout, you know, congratulating him or telling him it was a good send.
And it's just not easy there.
When the, when the ball ricochets, or caroms in any way, form, or fashion, it looks easy when you're standing back from a distance, but all that's happening a little bit closer, and then it's happening so much faster.
So, and you know, you, you really can't create a grid like a NFL coach with two-point conversions or something like that.
It's on the fly.
And, he's been really, really good, and the guys have done a good position- good job of putting him in a good position with some adjustments with their base running.
So it's been a good team effort.
But I think overall he's just, you know, really added a sense of poise and composure, to the group a- and a good, good voice that's a little bit different.
We got kind of some young guys with a good spark to them, and he kind of balances that out with, with a very even keel, intelligent, experienced outlook on everything.
And then somebody's got to put Wash in his place every now and then, give him some , and Gary does that about as good as anybody.
Do you have a starter for tomorrow or still TBD?
W- we got people back there, so, again, I don't think we'll stray too far from Hauser kind of carrying the load.
But, but we'll announce that relatively soon.
