SF Giants ace Logan Webb may finally get respect he deserves with WBC exposure

SF Giants ace Logan Webb took the ball in Team USA’s first start of the World Baseball Classic against Team Brazil and he looked great. He pitched four solid innings and allowed just one run on a homer to the first batter he faced. The exposure he gets from the competition may finally get him the respect he deserves.

Giants fans have known it for a while, but a lot of casual baseball fans are unaware that Webb has been one of the most consistent pitchers in baseball since 2021. Seemingly every year he goes out and throws over 200 innings with a solid ERA and is just a reliable workhorse which has become a really rare breed in today’s game.

Logan Webb may finally get the respect he deserves from WBC

He has gotten some recognition the last few years as he’s made the All-Star team and has been a top finisher in National League Cy Young Award voting, but maybe now that he is helping Team USA win games the national baseball media will finally start to pay him the respect that he deserves.

For years many dismissed Webb as just a ground ball pitcher who only had solid numbers because he kept the ball on the ground with his sinker and relied on his defense. We all know Webb is an expert at inducing ground balls, but last season he showed that he is most assuredly a strikeout pitcher as well as he led the NL in strikeouts.

Even Giants fans at times can take Webb for granted. He is so good so consistently that it is easy to just assume he will be this solid forever. We know that probably won’t be the case, but the fact that he has lulled fans into a state of security speaks volumes to how good he’s been. Assuming he takes the ball on Opening Night against the New York Yankees later this month he will surpass Tim Lincecum and Madison Bumgarner in consecutive Opening Day starts as it will be his fifth in a row. He has a ways to go to catch Juan Marichal who made 10 straight Opening Day starts, but he is still is phenomenal company.

Maybe this is the year Webb can win a Cy Young. It won’t be easy with so many great National League pitchers, but if he has another solid start for Team USA and he puts up the requisite numbers then this could be the year he does it and becomes the first Giants pitcher to win the award since Lincecum won it in 2008 and 2009.

Based on Webb’s comments though, he’d much rather return to pitching in the playoffs over winning an award. It’s been a long time since he turned in two great starts in the 2021 NLDS against the Los Angeles Dodgers so it’s about time he pitched in October again.

Webb is one of the most underrated pitchers in the game, but maybe that will change a bit thanks to the exposure he’ll get from the WBC.