GOODYEAR, Ariz. — The fact that Anthony DeSclafani was on the mound and Curt Casali was behind the plate to catch him was, in itself, nothing new. The battery spent the last three years together in Cincinnati where DeSclafani was a mainstay in the Reds’ rotation and Casali served in a reserve backstop role.
Sunday marked the first time the two shared the field in San Francisco Giants uniforms, though. It just so happened to take place against their former team.
“It was for sure a little bit weird,” DeSclafani said. “You know, being with the Reds for a long time and building some great relationships there, for sure it was a little weird. At the end of the day, it’s competition and I know they were thinking the same thing.”
For DeSclafani, it was just a quick two-inning outing against his former teammates in which he surrendered a base hit and a run, striking out one batter. To glean any massive conclusions from such an early and rapid spring training appearance would be jumping the gun. However, there were certainly some positive signs for the 30-year-old right-handed pitcher.
He reached 95 miles per hour with his fastball and didn’t walk a single batter, a positive outcome after he issued 4.3 of them per game last year.
“I thought he looked great,” Giants manager Gabe Kapler said. “I thought he controlled the pace of the game.”
Signs of improved control and a 95 mph fastball right out the gate were, perhaps, not even the most significant aspects of DeSclafani’s first spring outing. Five of the seven batters who came to the plate against him on Sunday were left-handed swingers and DeSclafani said after the game, “it’s no secret that my numbers against righties are a lot better than lefties.”
In six major league seasons, right-handed batters have hit .247 against him. Lefties have hit .280. On Sunday they batted .000.
“It’s figuring out a different gameplan,” DeSclafani said of facing lefties. “I think changeups can be a real weapon. They’re saying it can be a real weapon so I think it’s just throwing it more. I got confidence so it’s just throwing it more.”
Since he made his MLB debut in 2014, DeSclafani’s changeup has been nearly nonexistent. In 2015, he threw the pitch 7.3 percent of the time, a mark he hasn’t since surpassed. That could all change this year, though.
“He’s working on executing that changeup to both lefties and righties and we still think his slider is as good a secondary weapon as we have in our rotation,” Kapler said. “It’s a really high-quality pitch. We’re asking him to lean on those but also to attack the strike zone and to control the pace of the game. He did all of those things today.”
GIANTS EMPHASIZING BASE STEALING
Giants utility player LaMonte Wade Jr. slid into second base and popped to his feet in concert with the umpire’s signal that he had made it there safely, the Giants’ third stolen base of the afternoon.
Wade’s successful fourth-inning steal prompted one fan to rambunctiously extend Reds catcher Tucker Barnhart an offer.
“Hey,” the fan exclaimed, “I’ll give you $1,000 if you throw somebody out.”
It was a deal. Barnhart raised his glove towards the stands and nodded his head, almost as if he were suggesting that he was confident he’d make the fan eat his words if he got the opportunity. But there would be no payday for Barnhart — that opportunity escaped him when Giants catcher Joey Bart stole second one batter later, the fourth swiped bag against the Reds’ backstop.
He joined Wade, infielder Jason Vosler and outfielder Mauricio Dubon.
“Any time that we can advance a base and get a hitter in scoring position is a plus for us,” Wade said. “It’s a team effort and we really have been focusing on the running game throughout all spring.”
The Giants haven’t exactly been threats on the basepaths in recent history. After ranking No. 15 in MLB in the category in 2018, they stole the third-fewest bases of any team in 2019 and the fifth-fewest in 2020.
Kapler views the spring as an opportunity to see what his players are capable of doing, though he said it should not serve as an indication of his team’s potential gameplan on the basepaths in the regular season.
“We believe that using spring training to test the limitations of our position players is a really good time,” he said. “It makes sense for us to kind of push the envelope a little bit.”
Likely referring to Bart’s stolen base, Kapler said the team pushed “non-traditional baserunners” to be active on paths Sunday, something that is expected to continue through the end of the team’s stay in Arizona.
“We just want to be ultra-aggressive in spring training and help these guys figure out how good they can be,” Kapler said.
RAMOS TURNS HEADS WITH TWO HOMERS
When the thunderous clap of Heliot Ramos’ bat meeting the ball echoed throughout Goodyear Ballpark, Reds pitcher Sean Doolittle looked up towards the sky to assess the damage.
Heliot Ramos – San Francisco Giants (1)* https://t.co/JLuA3XHZf3
— MLB HR Videos (@MLBHRVideos) March 7, 2021
But, when Ramos connected the sound was unmistakably that of a home run. It took Doolittle just a fraction of a second to realize it and bow his head in disapproval of his own performance. It didn’t take long for Doolittle to have company, though. Six innings later, the 21-year-old outfield prospect slugged his second home run of the game, this time off Reds left-handed minor league pitcher Reiver Sanmartin.
“I just showed that I want to play baseball,” Ramos said of his performance.
Though he has fewer than 100 at-bats above A-ball, Ramos has expressed confidence that he can play in the majors this year, a claim that was at least somewhat substantiated Sunday by his two-run home run off a two-time All-Star and World Series Champion as well as a handful of solid defensive plays in left field.
The former first-round pick’s self-assured personality is something his coaches have come to appreciate.
“We wouldn’t it any other way,” Kapler said. “That drive and that determination allows you to perform like he did today, demonstrating power to all fields, showing off a great arm, running the bases, speed-power combination. Really glad that Ramos is hungry and we’re excited about his production today.”
