SF Giants: Biggest Disappointments of the 2020 Season

SF Giants Biggest Disappointments: Right-Handed Starter Logan Webb

After stringing together a promising rookie campaign in 2019, the hope was that Logan Webb would take the next step in his development in 2020. However, development is never linear, and this could turn into a good learning experience for the young righty.

After Tyler Beede sustained a UCL tear in his pitching elbow that required Tommy John surgery, Webb had the inside track for the final rotation spot and eventually made the roster out of camp.

When the season began, Webb proved to be adept at preventing runs as he registered a 3.29 ERA in his first six starts. However, some concerning trends came with this. Most notably, he yielded 26 hits and 11 walks across 27.1 innings in these starts.

Despite the low run totals, he was consistently pitching in traffic. That said, there are plenty of pitchers who have made careers out of pitching in traffic and getting out of jams. It’s a skill.

However, it becomes a red flag and is eventually reflected in the results. He finished the season with 5.47 ERA (4.17 FIP) with an 18.7 percent strikeout rate against a 9.8 percent walk rate in 54.1 innings while being worth -0.5 WAR.

Similar to Johnny Cueto, the fact that his FIP was much lower than his ERA could signify some poor luck.

Unlike Cueto, he did not show the pitch efficiency we were hoping for. His starts lagged on as he constantly went into deep counts against opposing hitters while not eating up nearly enough innings.

If there is one piece of good news, it is that the right-handed hurler induced a ground ball in 51.8 percent of his batted ball events. Furthermore, he posted a strong 2.32 GB/FB rate, so he did well at preventing hitters from elevating the ball.

Still, the SF Giants needed him to take the next step in his development, and it did not seem like he progressed as the season wore on.