Cobb And a Half

As I am writing this Alex Cobb is on the mound against my Philadelphia Phillies. To be perfectly honest, of all Giants pitchers I figured my Phils would struggle with, I wasn't expecting Alex Cobb. He's 35, he's been a mid-rotation starter his whole career, I saw him get lit up in Toronto 5 years ago, I just figure somebody like Logan Webb or Anthony Desclafani will be more of a menace to these guys right now.

But no. Cobb's having his best season in years, with a 1.70 ERA, 41 Ks and 3 wins. It is, by far, the most impressive starting performance on this team, even as Webb and Wood lower their ERAs. And right now, he's not letting the Phils budge even an inch. Oh sure, he's walking people a lot, but so far nobody's getting home.

The Giants are a flawed team this year, as the Kaplerball experiment really only yielded a superior product once, and now the team's more of a novelty than something like Tampa, which is legit. It's fun to see second-hand guys like Mike Yastrzemski, LaMonte Wade, Thairo Estrada and J.D. Davis succeed for this team, but uh...have you noticed how few actual Giants products have impacted this team? Giants fans were waiting on Joey Bart to come up, he did and for the third year in a row he's looking more like a bust than the future. David Villar was expected to be the starting man at third this year, he's currently back in the minors. Sean Hjelle, despite his stature, has continued to be unsuccessful at an MLB level. It's really just Webb, Camilo Doval and Tyler Rogers at this point.

Or at least it was until Casey Schmitt came up. Schmitt, who is 24 and was a 2020-era draft pick, has been nothing short of incredible ever since his callup. He's hitting .464 with 13 hits, 5 RBIs and 2 homers in 7 games. Granted, his average does shrink with every meeting with Zack Wheeler, but can you blame him? I do think someone like Schmitt is a good sign in terms of homegrown Giants pieces, but we're gonna need more than that. Thairo Estrada and John Brebbia aren't gonna be the answer forever. 

There's some intriguing signs of movement with this Giants team, and I hope they keep it up and move towards a new era. It remains to be seen if that involves doing especially well this year, though.

Coming Tonight: Next on TLC, it's The Man Who Forgot How to Give Up Runs