Tony Vitello explains Logan Webb's early exit from Giants' win vs. Rockies
Giants manager Tony Vitello speaks to reporters following San Francisco's 7-1 win against the Colorado Rockies on Saturday at Oracle Park.
Tony Vitello explains Logan Webb's early exit from Giants' win vs. Rockies originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Video Transcript
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 sac 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 three, his 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.
Is that, has that been talked about, emphasized a, a lot- Yeah, I th- going forward?
Is that a big deal?
It, 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.
Okay.
