Why Carson Seymour’s Spring Focus Matters More Than His Results

The temptation when it comes to spring training is to buy into numbers. Whether it’s batting average or wins and losses, the numbers don’t tell the whole story.

In many spring training games, the regular starters are out by the fourth or fifth innings and don’t play full games until the final week or two of exhibition games. They exit games early to give younger players or those competing for roster spots the chance to play and impress coaches and team executives.

It’s why performance matters more than numbers sometimes. For San Francisco Giants pitcher Carson Seymour, who hopes to make the opening-day roster as a reliever, or perhaps usurp Landon Roupp for the fifth starter role, what he’s focusing on this spring matters more than his win-loss record.

Carson Seymour’s Focus in Spring Training

Carson Seymour had a spring training moment on Tuesday when he struck out Luis Arráez... talks about pitching as a starter or reliever for the Giants. Watch for this kid. pic.twitter.com/ILRAgKvQD1
— Marty Lurie (@baseballmarty) February 18, 2026

Seymour threw a live batting practice on Tuesday. NBC Sports Bay Area’s Alex Pavlovic called it “one of the most impressive live BP sessions yet.” During it, he struck out Luis Arráez, who is a three-time batting champion and one of the hardest batters to strike out in baseball.

Seymour talked about striking him out with KNBR’s Marty Lurie in a video interview.

“I knew he was a good contact hitter, but I didn’t know he didn’t strike out ever,” Seymour said. “I was surprised after the fact.”

Seymour made his MLB debut last season and went 1-3 with a 4.75 ERA in 16 games, only three of which were starts. After spending five seasons in the minor leagues and making 85 starts in 101 appearances, moving primarily into a long relief role was an adjustment.

In the minor leagues he struck out more than a hitter per inning. In the Majors that was a struggle and it was reflected in the numbers. He only struck out 26 hitters in 36 innings. Those struggles were reflected in the numbers on his Baseball Savant page.

He didn’t qualify for rankings as he only pitched in 16 games. But he didn’t induce much chase with hitters or whiffs in the zone. His chase rate was 22.2% and his whiff rate was 21.8%. His strikeout rate (16.7%) and his walk rate (8.3%) would have also ranked in lower percentiles had he qualified. Also worrisome was an average exit velocity of 91.4 mph, which would have been among the lowest in the Majors.

Perhaps his biggest focus is cutting down on strikeouts. He gave up nine home runs in 36 innings in the Majors, a rate that over a normal workload won’t keep him in the Majors long.

“I think it was leaving pitches up in the zone and I think most of them were with two strikes or ahead in the count,” Seymour said. “So, it wasn’t losing focus but more not being specific enough with my pitches and they got hammered. Then you learn not to make mistakes because they will get crushed.”

Some of it can be explained being a rookie. He was the Giants’ sixth-round pick in 2021 out of Kansas State. The thought is that Seymour could take a leap in 2026 and, at minimum, be a better long reliever with more effective stuff and results. To do that, he’ll have to locate better ahead in the count and avoid giving up home runs this spring to earn a spot.