New manager Tony Vitello is new to life in the Majors. He’s never experienced baseball like this first hand. Quality at this quantity right between the eyes. The Big Time. The Show. Professionalism oozing from the pores of the ticket scanners to the players. These diamonds shine — even in Spring Training.
Five pitches into Robbie Ray’s debut the stadium alarm system went off. Somewhat worryingly the incessant beeping and declarative voice over the loud speaker, directing everyone in attendance that an emergency had been reported and everyone should vacate the building, was collectively ignored.
Because this ain’t college ball, coach. This is the PROs. The game doesn’t just stop because there’s some kind of “emergency.” These gladiators don’t just seek safety — like sheep — because some automated, disembodied voice says so. As the sirens roared and all of Scottsdale burned in the distance, Robbie Ray pitched on, walking the first two batters he faced, then before giving up a bloop single to Seiya Suzuki…
No matter, this is the Major Leagues, in case you forgot, where two walks + a single = three outs.
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Welcome to the Big Leagues, Mr. Vitello — this is what it’s like every damn day.
Obviously, Cactus League play in February is not the Lincoln Center. One does not usually venture down to the Phoenix metropolitan area in search of grace and elegance. The Spring Training version of black-tie is a loose-fitting Hawaiian shirt, a straw hat, and an inner-thigh sunburn. Games this early on are about as edifying as three hot dogs and a beer for lunch.
The Giants 4 – 2 win over the Chicago Cubs was a circus of lost fly balls, booted grounders, brainless base-running, poor command, and overcooked offerings. 10 walks and 9 hits allowed by pitching, 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position — this is not a blueprint for success. The rust showed all the way up in the broadcaster’s booth as well. At one point Duane Kuiper stated that Alex Bregman “helped us win a World Series.” Jeff Kent called Alex Rodriguez “a fat ass” and a “son of a bitch” on live radio (but that might be an example of Kent in form), and Jon Miller referred to Bryce Eldridge as Bryce Harper.
But bad baseball is better than no baseball. Man, it feels good to be back.
Things to note:
Matt Chapman rocketed doubles with exit velocities of 109 MPH and 107 MPH in his first two at-bats of spring. Guess the hand’s feeling good.
Carson Seymour made his spring debut with a scoreless frame in the 2nd. He surrendered a single, touched 97 MPH multiple times on the radar gun, and showed off three different fastball types (four-seam, sinker, cutter). While Seymour came up as a starter, there has been some early camp chatter about him wiggling his way on to the roster by way of the bullpen.
Luis Arraez didn’t look like a complete kook in his first start playing second base. He actually made a somewhat heads up play on Suzuki’s 1st inning bloop with an off-balanced throw that went right to Rafael Devers who initiated the improbable triple play. A rangier defender might have tracked down that flare — thank god Arraez didn’t. Can you imagine settling for only one out on that play?
Jung Hoo Lee lined an outside splitter 103 MPH to left field in his first at-bat. Spraying hits and using the whole field is the key to sustained success at the plate for Lee in 2026. More positive news for the Hoo Lee Gans: Right field seems like a decent fit so far. In the 6th, Lee ranged far to the foul line to track down a fly ball before a strong and accurate one-hop throw home bagged the runner tagging from third.
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There were seven ABS challenges in the game. The Cubs went 2-for-4 while the Giants went 2-for-3 Patrick Bailey botched his first one on an elevated sinker that he thought scratched a corner. Turns out his framing is so good he can even fool himself.
Here’s the Giants’ box score, courtesy of Baseball Savant.
And here’s the pitching breakdown, courtesy of Baseball Savant.
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