SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Between back-to-back rainouts and a scheduled day off earlier in the week, Bob Melvin joked Saturday morning, “it feels a little bit like the All-Star break in the middle of spring.” But, at this point in camp, the Giants are more in need of evaluation time than leisure time.
Beyond the inconvenience of the three-hour roundtrip commute Friday to Peoria only to be rained out, the lack of action on the field has created a traffic jam of pitchers in need of work — and opportunities to showcase themselves to the coaching staff that has at least one hole to fill in its starting rotation.
So, with the sun shining for a 5-1 exhibition win against the A’s, a carousel of contenders took the mound at Scottsdale Stadium.
While Jordan Hicks started, punching out six batters over three shutout innings, the free-agent newcomer is one of the few arms locked in to the Giants’ rotation, along with Logan Webb and Kyle Harrison. If Keaton Winn’s elbow checks out — more on that later — he figures to be the fourth in the equation.
That leaves one spot to fill.
“Who steps up? Who balls out?” Hicks said, asking the pertinent questions. “Someone’s gonna do it. I know they are.”
It could be 24-year-old prospect Mason Black, or it could be 27-year-old non-roster invitee Spencer Howard, the pitchers given the first two starting opportunities in the vacancies created by injuries to Winn (elbow soreness), Tristan Beck (upper arm aneurysm) and Sean Hjelle (elbow soreness).
But Carson Whisenhunt, 22; Landen Roupp, 26; and Kai-Wei Teng, 25, represent a trio of pitching prospects who could newly factor into the decision as their build-ups have been accelerated in recent days after health concerns caused all three to be slow-played to begin spring training.
On Saturday, Roupp made his first appearance of the spring, relieving Black, while Teng enjoyed a milestone before first pitch. Slowed by an oblique strain to start camp, the Taiwanese righty threw about 25 pitches to Mike Yastrzemski, Michael Conforto and Yoshi Tsutsugo, the first live hitters he’s faced this spring.
Teng’s live batting practice session followed a similar one for Whisenhunt on Thursday, with a second scheduled for Monday. Alex Cobb, ahead of schedule in his recovery from offseason hip surgery, will also throw live for the first time Monday.
“You never get excited about live BPs, but those are exciting,” Melvin said, also referring to Alex Cobb’s upcoming session, as well. “We hope to get (Teng) in a game before we leave here, but not sure. It’s going to depend on how he feels.”
Winn also threw live, moments before Teng, for the first time since he was shut down with soreness in his elbow.
Those concerns, Winn said afterward, have been overblown.
“It was just one day I woke up and it was a little more sore than normal,” he said. “I’m 100% healthy.”
The next step, he said, is getting into a game, which is tentatively set to happen Wednesday, either in the Giants’ exhibition against the Reds or one of their minor-league games at their Papago Park complex. While he might not be able to shoulder a full workload by Opening Day, he should be stretched out to about 80 pitches if he remains on schedule.
In the auditions for the fifth spot Saturday, Black allowed a run on three hits over two innings, while Roupp pitched one inning, striking out two of the three batters he faced. Both pitchers rebounded from suboptimal starts.
After pitching himself into trouble in his first inning, allowing hits to the first three batters he faced, Black induced ground ball outs from the next three hitters before retiring the side in order his second inning. Roupp, meanwhile, began by firing two pitches well outside the strike zone before settling in and landing his signature curveball for strikes even behind in the count.
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“Those are the kinds of things that we’re looking for,” Melvin said afterward. “I know it’s just a spring training game, but it can be difficult here, conditions-wise. Keeping your composure and pitching, when you’re fighting for a spot, we’re looking for that stuff.”
Whoever wins the job, the Giants hope they are only keeping the seat warm for Cobb, who could be activated by the start of May at the rate he is progressing. They will have another decision to make sometime around the All-Star break, when Robbie Ray is due back from Tommy John surgery.
However it shakes out, Hicks said he welcomes the challenge for the rotation.
“I think we have all the offensive pieces to be a great team, a great bullpen. Now it’s on the starters a little bit,” he said. “Hopefully we stay healthy and, once everybody gets back, stay healthy again. We’ve got nasty stuff. That’s the most important part. … We’ve got a really good bullpen, so even if the fourth or fifth starter or whoever fills in if they only go four or five (innings) and we’re still in the ballgame, I think we still have a really good chance to win the game.”