Why Webb hopes to return to ‘Giants baseball' standard

At 8:30 on the second morning of camp, Logan Webb walked through the clubhouse with a cup of cold brew in his left hand. He stopped at a table in the center of the room, where several Giants were watching a game of chess, right-handed prospect Mason Black was doing a crossword and left-hander Carson Whisenhunt was using a handheld massage gun on his shoulder.

Whisenhunt reached his hand out and wished Webb a good morning. Black got up from the couch, smiled, and did the same. As Webb kept walking, Michael Conforto walked in from the weight room and the process was repeated.

This was a daily routine at Scottsdale Stadium, which might have been home to the friendliest camp in Arizona. In January, Webb was working out at the club's minor league facility at Papago Park and he told a small group of pitching prospects that when they were in big league camp in a few weeks, they should say "good morning" to veterans like Alex Cobb, Conforto and the Rogers twins, along with their catchers. The message was not forgotten. 

On the first day of camp, Cobb had to pause a session with reporters after just 30 seconds because two pitchers walked through and stopped to say "good morning."

"He's trying to teach these guys common courtesy, not to be on their phone," Cobb said, laughing. "It's hilarious."

Webb actually borrowed the move from his own experience as a young player. On Monday's Giants Talk Podcast, he explained how former San Francisco starter Jeff Samardzija made him come and say good morning during his first big league camp. The two quickly became friends, and Webb never forgot how that simple task helped him break the ice with a pitcher in his thirties who would become a mentor.

"I told (the prospects) there were repercussions if they didn't say 'good morning.' There are no repercussions ... don't tell them that, though," Webb said. "It's been great because 'good morning' turns into a sitdown at breakfast, it turns into conversations, it turns into just a good friendship that you're going to have. A lot of these guys are going to be on the team either this year or the following year. It's been awesome so far."

Helping young prospects feel more comfortable would be important during any spring training, but it was particularly crucial for the Giants over the past six weeks. They intend to rely on young players like Black, Whisenhunt, Landen Roupp and others at some point this season, but they're also coming off a year during which clubhouse chemistry became a public issue in September, and ultimately may have been the reason Gabe Kapler got fired. 

It took a few years for Webb to grow comfortable speaking out, but he said last September that he didn't think San Francisco had "set a standard of winning every single day." Other veterans said the clubhouse lacked leadership, with Mike Yastrzemski describing the final two months as an environment where there was "a fend for yourself atmosphere that somehow fell into place."

"I don't know where it came from, but it kinda just took over where everybody felt like they could do their own thing," Yastzemski continued last September, "And it made it feel like there wasn't an entire group effort or a sense of unity."

President of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi took those public quotes -- along with private conversations with players and support staff -- seriously. The offseason overhaul added a lot of talent to the lineup and rotation, but several of the additions are also known as good clubhouse leaders, something Zaidi cited often. Bob Melvin was hired, bringing more of a no-nonsense vibe, and a much more experienced coaching staff was put together. 

Melvin started his first speech to the team this spring by talking about the importance of being on time, a simple act that got away from some of the veterans on the 2023 team. Afterward, Webb said it was a message he was happy to hear, and he called this year's camp a "perfect balance of new school and old school."

Melvin will certainly bring a different approach, but most tone-setting must come from players themselves, and Webb sees a large group of veterans who are ready to pull in the same direction. In addition to the newcomers, there are veterans like Yastrzemski, Wilmer Flores and Austin Slater who are comfortable speaking out when necessary. Thairo Estrada called a team meeting last year to try and right the ship, and teammates say Conforto has been more vocal in year two as a Giant. Cobb, Robbie Ray and Blake Snell have 30 combined years of big league experience and all will be counted on to lead the young pitchers. 

There's no doubt about who the face of the franchise is, though. 

In a commercial that has aired often to introduce fans to this year's new look, it is Webb who is standing in the middle of the clubhouse and talking about his excitement for the upcoming season. That's a role that used to belong to Buster Posey, Brandon Crawford and Brandon Belt, but in three consecutive offseasons, those players either retired or ended up elsewhere. Their presence will still be felt, though. Webb was paying attention as he was breaking in as a big leaguer. 

"I think the attention to detail and being professional and the amount of respect you've got to show for everybody in the clubhouse -- that's the thing I learned the most from those guys," he said on Giants Talk. "It was the same when you talk about guys like Buster, Kevin Gausman, Alex Cobb who is with us still -- they do everything the right way. It's no-nonsense, get your stuff done, and then you have fun while you do it. That's kind of what I've learned and what I try to help out with as much as I can."

If all goes according to plan, those lessons will be passed on to the next generation of long-time Giants. Webb is signed through the 2028 season, and while the rotation will be filled with veterans once Cobb and Ray finish rehabbing and Snell gets up to speed, a new generation is coming in a hurry. 

Kyle Harrison worked out with Webb all offseason and the current staff ace has no doubt that the organization's top prospect is going to be alongside him for years to come. The Giants might end up trading some of their young pitching depth and some will fail to stick in the big leagues, but with options like Keaton Winn, Tristan Beck, Black, Whisenhunt, Roupp, Kai-Wei Teng, Reggie Crawford and Hayden Birdsong, there are plenty of ways to fill the rotation with homegrown pitchers for years to come. 

Webb believes "the sky is the limit" for the group, and he's hopeful that their spring work leads to contributions during the season. The Giants will need them, although Zaidi's offseason has provided a lot more veteran talent to a roster that now looks capable of pushing for a postseason spot.

Webb has had just one winning season since debuting in 2019, and while he burst onto the national scene during the 2021 NLDS, those two starts are his only postseason appearances. He's hopeful that this is the season everything starts to turn around for good.

"It's an honor to be a Giant. That's what I was taught ... I don't know how many times Buster told me that: 'It's an honor to be a Giant, take that with pride,'" he said. "I feel that. It's why I wanted to sign the extension to stay here and hopefully I stay here my entire career. If we can just hone that in and get everybody on board where we're the Giants, I feel like those old teams, when you would watch them play, it seemed like nobody wanted to come in and play the Giants. 

"They were going to pitch their ass off, they were going to play great defense, and they were going to get timely hits and grind out at-bats. That's what we're trying to get back to, and I feel like if we can do that, that's Giants baseball to me and I think everybody loves Giants baseball that way."

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