By admin 
SAN FRANCISCO – When the Giants traded Patrick Bailey to the Cleveland Guardians, the team wasn’t just losing a two-time Gold Glove Award winner. It was losing the catcher who knew Logan Webb best.
Read more Yankees’ Hunter Dietz Pick Sends Clear Message About Long-Term Vision
Webb says his preferred method of calling a game is “more intricate or different than some other guys.” No one knew that better than Bailey, who built a chemistry with Webb forged by being teammates for four seasons. Bailey’s successors just don’t have that same institutional knowledge.
third straight All-Star Game
“I don’t know if there’s anyone more prepared from a scouting report perspective than he is,” said Giants pitching coach Justin Meccage. “He has a very detailed system that he goes through with each hitter in the lineup, and it’s as detailed as I’ve ever seen a player go through on his own.”
Giants catcher Eric Haase said of Webb, “He just knows himself. He obviously studies hitter weaknesses and whatnot. I know he says he uses a lot of analytic stuff, but at the same time, it’s how his stuff fares against certain hitters. So, instead of just a general scouting report … he really looks into how his stuff plays against these guys. I think that’s the biggest key.”
Bailey
When Webb returned from the injured list on May 29 his catcher against the Colorado Rockies was rookie Daniel Susac. To that point, Susac had only caught Webb once in a regular-season game.
Webb described their chemistry for that game being “kind of off a little bit.” Webb opted to call his own pitches in his next start against the Milwaukee Brewers in hopes Susac would get a better understanding of how the Giants ace wanted his game to go.
It was hard to argue with the results. Webb tossed seven scoreless innings in what was his best outing of the season. He carried a perfect game into the sixth and a no-hitter into the seventh before allowing a hit to Brice Turang.
“I was using PitchCom,” Webb said following the game, referring to the communication system that allows pitchers and catchers to communicate pitch calls with the catcher using finger signs. “I haven’t done that in a while, but I just haven’t thrown to him a lot. I thought maybe if I use PitchCom, he’d kind of say the way I like to throw a game.
“By the end of it, he was calling pretty much the whole game. … I’m probably not the easiest to call a game for. I feel like I know what I want to do. Sometimes, that might be hard, but he did a great job.”
That outing was the start of the best month of Webb’s careerand culminated in him winning NL Pitcher of the Month.
Read more Early Bust Candidates Fantasy Managers Should Think Twice About
In June, Webb had more starts (five) than earned runs (three). His 0.72 ERA was the lowest by a Giants pitcher in a month since Noah Lowry in August 2005 (0.69 ERA). He threw eight innings in three straight outings, and he would’ve had a shot at doing it for a fourth straight outing if he wasn’t under the weather in his final start of the month.
“He breaks it down by counts,” Meccage said. “He’s always looking at that. He’s looking at where guys take strikes at, where do guys not damage balls at all, where do they miss at. He puts all of it into play, and then puts together kind of a little formula for each at-bat of what he wants to get done.
“I think probably the biggest difference that I’ve seen is that attention to detail based on counts; what he wants to do in counts; and what hitters’ tendencies are in those counts.”
There have been some tangible differences in Webb’s approach before and after he started calling his own pitches. Webb is throwing fewer sinkers and more changeups. Webb also started throwing more backdoor sinkers to righties, as well as more four-seam fastballs and changeups in two-strike counts.
“I don’t think I was physically able to throw backdoor sinkers as good as I used to or changeups down as good as I used to,” Webb said. “So, probably had a little bit to do with my knee. I think I was fighting through some things. I was just leaving a lot of stuff arm side. So, when I was leaning arm side, I just started throwing more pitches arm side. It wasn’t by design.”
The 29-year-old may be of interest to contending teams with the Giants looking like trade deadline sellers at just 41-55, but president of baseball operations Buster Posey said in late June that he would not consider moving Webb. Still, the tough season was the backdrop last week for a social media back-and-forth with a radio reporter and fans that resulted in Webb deleting his account.
Webb said on Sunday that he’s unlikely to pitch in the Midsummer Classic after pitching in the World Baseball Classic in March and then missing several weeks in May due to injury. The Giants’ outlook is unquestionably bleak, but Webb isn’t waving the white flag just yet.
“You never want to put yourself in this position,” Webb said. “There’s still a ton of baseball left. We’ve just got to put our heads down, take a step back, look in the mirror and decide what we want to be as a team.”
Read more Jets’ Demario Davis Explains Why He Returned to New York
Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.
This story was originally published July 14, 2026 at 5:29 AM.