Notes: Bracho on Sherfy; fungo golf; Cueto

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- A pair of former D-backs teammates are hoping they’ll find a new home in the National League West with the Giants this spring.

Right-handers Silvino Bracho and Jimmy Sherfy are among the 20 non-roster pitchers in camp, and they could have solid shots at winning spots in San Francisco’s bullpen due to their Major League experience.

Bracho, 28, logged a 4.82 ERA over 92 appearances in parts of five seasons with Arizona and said he is feeling good after returning from Tommy John surgery at the end of last year. Bracho decided to pitch in winter ball in his native Venezuela to affirm the health of his arm over the offseason, and he continued to impress after recording a 0.69 ERA with 12 strikeouts over 13 innings as the closer for Águilas del Zulia.

He signed a Minor League deal with the Giants in November after hearing positive reviews of the organization from his friends Albert Suárez, who pitched for San Francisco from 2016-17, and Lipso Nava, a Giants Minor League coach who has managed Bracho in winter ball.

“It'll be hard to come back [from Tommy John], but nothing is impossible,” Bracho said during a Zoom call with reporters on Thursday. “Right now I feel like I’m in progress to be 100%.”

Manager Gabe Kapler said catcher Ricardo Genovés gushed about Bracho’s performance during his first live batting practice session of the spring at the Giants’ Minor League complex on Tuesday.

“Geno was raving about it,” Kapler said. “I missed it, but I heard all about the changeup. We've seen the changeup in the bullpen. It’s been great. He has a history of strike-throwing with the Diamondbacks.”

Sherfy, 29, threw his first live BP session on the main field at Scottsdale Stadium on Thursday, though he struggled to command his slider. A 10th-round Draft pick of the D-backs in 2013, Sherfy recorded a 2.98 ERA over parts of three seasons with Arizona, but he didn’t appear in the Majors in 2020.

The competition for the final few spots in the Giants’ bullpen will be wide open this spring, but Bracho said he’ll be rooting for Sherfy, and vice versa.

“I love Sherf,” Bracho said. “He’s been my teammate for many years. He’s a great dude. … I don’t feel like we’re competing for one spot. If he makes the team, I’m going to be happy. If we both make the team, we are both going to be happy.”

Back in the swing of things
With no designated hitter in the National League expected this year, Giants pitchers are spending some time working on their swings this spring. The coaching staff developed a fun exercise to help ease them back into hitting, having them play fungo golf around Scottsdale Stadium on Thursday.

Kevin Gausman, Logan Webb, Tyler Beede, Anthony DeSclafani and Alex Wood were among the pitchers who tossed balls in the air and drove them toward buckets in left field. The group then putted along the left-field foul line before hitting the balls back toward home plate.

“Just to get [pitchers] swinging the bats a little bit, just kind of ramping up very, very slowly the intensity and the feeling of having a bat in their hands and helping them find the sweet spot,” Kapler said. “So that was a lot of fun. We kind of hit balls and then chased them around the diamond. It’s just a unique and fun way to practice something and kind of get ready to start swinging the bats.”

Cueto impresses
Kapler said right-hander Johnny Cueto flashed an “awesome” changeup while facing outfielders Austin Slater and Darin Ruf in his first live BP session of the spring on Thursday.

“He had a sequence against Darin Ruf where he threw a changeup, down and in, and then threw a sinker right off the same location,” Kapler said. “It was a really pretty sequence.”

“He looked great,” Slater added. “He was spotting his cutter inside. His changeup looked really, really good. For the most part, he was commanding the zone, which this early in camp, you don’t see that a lot.”