The surprising area where SF Giants ace Logan Webb has quietly improved

SF Giants ace Logan Webb is among the best pitchers in baseball, but he still continues to show improvement. He has always been an effective groundball pitcher, but he has seen a notable spike in his strikeout rate.

The surprising area where SF Giants ace Logan Webb has quietly improved

On Saturday, Webb recorded 10 strikeouts in a 3-2 win over the Atlanta Braves. He got the no-decision, but pitched well enough to get the win. That has often been the case in his career.

That game marked the 11th time in Webb's career that he tallied double-digit strikeouts. If it feels like a lot of those games have occurred recently, it is because it has. That was the fourth time this season that the right-handed pitcher has reached double-digit strikeouts, and he has never done that more than four times in a year. There are nearly four months remaining in the season.

Webb has typically done a lot of things well on the mound, including throwing strikes, keeping the ball on the ground, and in the ballpark. Those trends have continued, and his 56.7 percent ground ball rate is sixth among qualified starters.

If a pitcher cannot get hitters to swing and miss, then getting a ground ball is the next best outcome. It is hard to hit a home run on a ground ball, and extra bases are usually limited.

Webb is doing what he has always done well, but he is now getting hitters to swing and miss at a high rate. He has a 10.4 K/9 through 14 starts in 2025, up from a career mark of 8.3 K/9. What has been the change?

There has been a notable shift in Webb's pitch mix. He continues to lead with a low 90's sinker, but his sweeper and changeup have shifted in usage. The veteran pitcher is throwing his sweeper 28.4 percent of the time this year, up from 21.3 percent last season. On the other hand, he is now throwing the changeup 19.5 percent of the time, down from 30.9 percent last season.

Not only that, but the changeup's whiff rate is up to 38.2 percent this year. That pitch is getting more vertical drop than it has in recent seasons, leading hitters to swing over it. On the other hand, the sweeper continues to generate whiffs at a health rate (32.5 percent). Part of the spike in strikeout rate is due to using a high swing-and-miss pitch, but the other part is improving the movement profile of the changeup.

I think J.P. Martinez deserves some credit for the success of the pitching staff. It is hard to be fully aware of the work he does behind the scenes, but you can see the impact when it comes to adding new pitches, changing pitch mix, adjusting movement profile, or sequencing. Many Giants pitchers have shown improvement this year.

Perhaps, Webb made these changes on his own. I just wanted to take a moment to recognize Martinez. He is well-regarded throughout baseball, and the success of the pitching staff this year feels like a good endorsement for his work.

Anyways, Webb is pitching better than he has in the past. He is striking out more batters than ever before, and a change in pitch mix seems like the cause. That could change his trajectory this season from being an All-Star pitcher to arguably being the best pitcher in the league.