SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. >> The man who started the Giants’ first Cactus League game during last season’s abbreviated spring training went on to become their Opening Day starter, too. Back to normal this spring, that’s not likely to be the case again.

“I would say, don’t read into this stuff, and I mean it pretty strongly,” manager Gabe Kapler said Thursday morning, shortly after announcing who would start their Cactus League opener (Saturday, 12:05 p.m. PT, at Cubs). “It’s more just the way it worked out.”

The honor belongs to Tristan Beck, a 26-year-old righty out of Stanford who was added to the 40-man roster this offseason.

Beck, a fourth-round draft pick by Atlanta in 2018, joined the organization at the 2019 trade deadline in the Mark Melancon deal and reached Triple-A last season, going 5-8 with a 5.64 ERA in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. Keeping hitters off balance with a mix of four pitches, Beck struck out 116 and walked 36 in 111-1/3 innings between Double- and Triple-A in 2022, his first full, healthy season since being drafted.

“We see him as a future piece of our rotation,” Kapler said. “We’ve seen a lot of good stuff from Beck. He looks great. His posture looks good. His delivery looks good. He’s throwing a lot of strikes. Ball’s coming out good. So all of those things are intact.”

Beck is expected to start the year in the rotation at Triple-A Sacramento, which should also include Sean Hjelle, Kyle Harrison and Keaton Winn, a quartet of young starters who provide the Giants something they didn’t have much of last year: upper-level starting pitching depth.

With seven capable starters on their major-league roster already, they hope there aren’t many spot starts to be covered.

“Between Tristan and Sean ... I think you could see somebody coming up and actually making starts for us,” Kapler said. “Now, we have a pretty deep starting rotation as it is and we’ve got a guy in the bullpen who we expect to be somewhat built up in Jakob Junis. We’ll see where we are from a health perspective three or four weeks from now.”

As for Saturday’s spring opener? Well, somebody had to start it.

“It’s a good opportunity for him,” Kapler said. “We feel he’s level-headed enough to handle our first spring training game. While these are very much exhibition games, they’re also opportunities for young players to get their feet wet.”

Scheduled to follow Beck are six other young arms: lefties Sam Long (working on his changeup this spring), Erik Miller (another Stanford product, acquired from the Phillies) and Daniel Tillo, and righties Nick Duron (another former Phillie), Trevor Hildenberger (a submariner) and Drew Strotman.

Bullpen plans >> Scott Alexander worked his way back from injury and appeared in 17 games for the Giants last season, including one against his Santa Rosa-born brother, Jason, in Milwaukee. With his power sinker, Alexander posted a 1.07 ERA in those appearances and assured himself a role in this year’s bullpen.

The Giants were careful with the lefty last season, but this year, he says he wants to be a full go.

“There’s some mileage there,” Kapler said. “But he’s ready to take the ball every day.”

Alexander told Kapler in their pre-spring player plan meeting that he wanted to take the ball 60 or 70 times this season, something he hasn’t done since his first season with the Dodgers, in 2018, when he appeared in 73 games with a 3.68 ERA. In four seasons since, he’s remained effective but made 76 total appearances.

“I love when relievers talk like that because you can remind them, hey, remember in that meeting, you wanted to touch the mound 65 times? Cool, here we go,” Kapler said. “With Scott, I think he’s healthy right now and we just expect him to be a normal reliever for us.”

What will normal look like?

Along with newcomer Taylor Rogers, who is expected to share late-inning duties with right-hander Camilo Doval, the Giants have two relievers they can turn to for tough left-on-left matchups (and, when Luke Jackson returns, a righty who can get left-handed hitters out, as well). Two other lefties in the mix, Long and Thomas Szapucki, are among the candidates for the final spot in the bullpen.

“You could sort of see how Scott might take the earlier look and Taylor might take the later look,” Kapler said. “Being able to mix and match Taylor and Scott and the righties, so it’s not the same dude every single day, that’s a nice luxury to have. ... I feel very confident with Scott against left and right. Taylor, I think he’s going to be better against lefties, but he’s also closed games and wiped out three righties in a row and we have no problem putting him in to those situations.”

Corner infield outlook >> While the Giants are still awaiting Wilmer Flores’ arrival to camp, when his child is born and he makes it to Scottsdale, he will be the Giants’ third right-handed hitting corner infielder along with David Villar and J.D. Davis.

Villar has the inside track to start at third base, leaving Flores and Davis’ roles in question. But Kapler doesn’t believe there is any redundancies on their roster. Against left-handed pitching, expect all three in the lineup: one at third, one spelling LaMonte Wade Jr. at first and one spelling Joc Pederson at designated hitter.

“I don’t think it’s going to be a challenge,” Kapler said. “I think it’s gonna come out pretty clean in the end. When you look at it on paper, then it’s a challenge. In operation, it just doesn’t tend to work out that way.”

Sights and sounds >> Left-handed pitching prospect Kyle Harrison from De La Salle pitched two simulated innings on the backfields. He faced Brandon Crawford, LaMonte Wade Jr. and Thairo Estrada first.

Outfielder Michael Conforto, who is working his way back from shoulder surgery, completed his throwing progression earlier in camp and is already swinging a bat. He’s expected to DH in the Giants’ first Cactus League games. On Thursday, he stepped into the cage against Harrison.