Selected in the 4th round out of Rocklin High School (Rocklin, CA) in the 2014 MLB Amateur Draft, San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Logan Webb started out as just another highly touted prospect failing to make an impact at the professional level.
Delayed by a series of injuries, including every pitcher’s worst nightmare, Tommy John surgery, Webb’s major league debut was pushed back to August 2019, where he started eight games for the Giants en route to a 2-3 record and 5.22 ERA. The 2020 season wasn’t any kinder to the 6-1 right hander, as he finished the year sporting a 5.47 ERA, posing more questions about his future in the bigs than answers.
Despite an inconsistent start to his career, the organization remained patient with Webb’s development and in his third professional season, the California kid rewarded his team with one of the best campaigns by a Giants starting pitcher since the days of Tim Lincecum and Madison Bumgarner, posting career-high numbers across the board.
This begs the question: how was Webb able to turn his career around in such a short time? Perhaps some key metrics from Baseball Savant can help answer that question.
Drastic improvements in Six key metrics from 2020 to 2021
Average launch angle and sweet spot percentage are two similar statistics that measure the plane at which a ball is batted, with the ideal number ranging between 15-20° for launch angle and 8-32° for sweet spot percentage. In 2021, Webb emerged as one of the game’s elite ground ball pitchers, joining Astros SP Framber Valdez, as the only starters in major league baseball to maintain an average launch angle below zero.
Elite Movement on Four Different Pitches
The third-year starter also made significant strides in out-of-zone-swing percentage (10.5% increase), first pitch strike percentage (6.4% increase), and whiff percentage (5.8%), all of which contributed to a 7.8 percent rise in strikeout percentage from 18.7 in 2020 to 26.5 in 2021. Webb struggled to put batters away early in his career (7.6 K/9). But marked improvements across the board boosted his K/9 to 9.6 in 2021.
Pitches are generally measured based on two types of movement: horizontal and drop. When it comes to drop, the Giants ace outclasses his contemporaries, registering outputs well above the league average. Webb’s elite arsenal includes a changeup with a dazzling 40″ of drop, profiling 9″ above that of the average major leaguer. The National League West hurler also features a wipeout slider in his repertoire, one that is double (12″) the league average (6″) in horizontal movement.
Batters experience a sinking feeling staring down Webb from 60 feet and 6 inches away when he calls on his deadly sinker. What can they look forward to? A pitch that vastly outranks the average sinker, featuring 18″ of horizontal movement and 28″ of drop.
Webb’s knack for tangling world class hitters is best exemplified by what league pundits call the “X.” The term “X” refers to a pitcher’s ability to execute pitches that play off of each other, intentionally disguising the direction in which the pitch will break to confuse batters. Above, you will see GIF’s featuring Webb’s Slider, Changeup, and Sinker; three entirely different pitches with varying velocities that work together to form the mirage-like “X” responsible for a league-wide supply of headaches.
Add it all up and Logan Webb has made his pitch as one of baseball’s undisputed aces.