SAN DIEGO — Logan Webb won’t remember this. It was a fleeting moment in a long and forgettable 2023 season. It was a throwaway line from a brief interaction, and when you are someone as socially active as Webb, who seems to be one degree of separation from everyone in the league, you don’t keep track of every last flit and flutter.

It was the waning minutes of batting practice at Dodger Stadium and Webb hopped down the steps in the visiting dugout. He overheard a snippet of conversation between two reporters over a forgotten topic. They might have been discussing world events or politics or, more likely, where they were going to spend their Marriott Rewards points in the offseason.

“I’m not smart enough to be in this conversation,” said Webb, smiling as he skipped past them in the dugout.

“C’mon Logan,” one of the reporters said. “You’re a smart guy.”

“Nah,” Webb called out, never breaking stride as he disappeared down the tunnel. “I’m a good-time guy.”

Call it a personality trait or an inclination or even a gift. Perhaps for some, it’s a characteristic that they grow into. For most, it seems, it’s a natural attribute that manifests itself sometime between potty training and fingerpainting. Here’s betting that little Logan Webb’s kindergarten teacher said this in a conference with his parents: “Your son gets along with everybody.”

Webb got along with most everybody at Rocklin High outside Sacramento. He got along with most everybody at every stop in the minor leagues after the Giants drafted him in the fourth round in 2014. Then in the big leagues, once he felt like he belonged, he allowed his personality to blossom there, too. As a rookie during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, Webb spoke softly and haltingly in his Zoom interviews with the media, as if every word were spring-loaded with potential danger. He still speaks barely above a whisper in the postgame clubhouse after his starts, especially the losses. But there’s a confidence behind his words now. He figured it out somewhere along the way: When your disposition is to be authentic, earnest, and apolitical, when you seldom have a bad word to say about anyone and when you view everybody as either 1) a friend or 2) a friend you haven’t met yet, then you can speak your mind and have nothing to fear.

Leading the major leagues in innings? Finishing second in the National League Cy Young balloting? Earning recognition as not just one of the best young starting pitchers in the game, but one of the best, period? That’ll give you confidence to say what’s on your mind, too.

The Giants might have added more building blocks to their roster than any team this offseason, signing third baseman Matt Chapman and designated hitter Jorge Soler and center fielder Jung Hoo Lee and even Blake Snell, the left-hander who finished ahead of Webb in last year’s Cy Young balloting. But from every angle, it remains as true as ever: Webb is the most integral and important player the Giants have. And he’ll be entrusted to set a tone for the season when he takes the ball Thursday against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park.

“The leadership qualities he has, he’s really embraced that this year,” said Bob Melvin, who will make his Giants managerial debut in the town that he exited in October with a year left on his contract. “Very rarely do you have a pitcher who is as impactful in the clubhouse as he is here. He embraces it. And it’s not like he’s 35 years old either. He’s a stud in our clubhouse.”

Webb, 27, is more than that. He might be the most indispensable player in the major leagues. How else to describe someone who threw more innings than any other major-league pitcher (216) yet somehow played on a team that ranked dead last in rotation innings (729 1/3)? Put another way, Webb threw a shade under 30 percent of innings by Giants starting pitchers last season. Sure, that doesn’t account for all the bulk relief appearances from Sean Manaea, Alex Wood and others who followed one-inning openers from the bullpen. Still, it’s the Giants’ most lopsided contribution from one starting pitcher since 1970, when Gaylord Perry threw a San Francisco-era franchise record 328 2/3 innings.

As great as Ronald Acuña Jr. is, the Atlanta Braves offense could roll on without him (and, in fact, won the 2021 World Series when he was out with a knee injury). The Dodgers could lose one of their four former MVPs for any wild, scandalous reason you could invent, and they’d still be expected to win 95-plus games. The Angels already have so much practice trying to get by without Mike Trout that they don’t need the cue cards. Ditto the Padres with Fernando Tatis Jr. What if Juan Soto refuses to shave his mutton chops? The Yankees would figure out a way to score runs without him. Who does that leave? Maybe José Ramírez in Cleveland? Corbin Burnes in Milwaukee? (Oops, sorry …)

The point of this little thought exercise: It’s at the very least arguable that Webb means more to the Giants than any current major-league player means to his team. That might be a little less true now that they signed Snell, but not by much. Snell at his best is extremely effective, but he also hears the factory whistle in the sixth inning. He won’t be ready to start the season after signing on March 19. He has a well-deserved reputation as a poor first-half performer. Snell is a great addition to the rotation. But he’s not the sturdiest load-bearing column in the league.

So until Snell settles in, until Alex Cobb returns from offseason hip surgery, until Robbie Ray makes his anticipated Giants debut in the second half, until Jordan Hicks can demonstrate stamina after converting from power closer to starting pitcher, and until the cohort of young arms led by Kyle Harrison can begin to display durability and efficiency in the big leagues, all of the Giants’ schematics will call for Webb to bear the weight again.

He says he’s ready for it. Even if that 10.97 ERA in the spring says otherwise.

“Oh yeah,” Webb said on Sunday. “The minute I stop getting nervous before a baseball game is the minute I should stop playing baseball. I’ll be nervous as s— for that first game and that’s a good thing. I’ve gotten nervous for every single game I’ve pitched. Even the best ever can feel that way. Obviously, you don’t want to show the nerves. Just remember you’ve done this your entire life so just go out there and compete.”

How does he expect this reconfigured Giants roster will compete?

“It’s crazy,” Webb said. “We signed some of the guys we signed and it seems we’re still not getting as much love as I think we should be. We’re going to be a force to be reckoned with. We just gotta pull together and fight as a unit. It’s the little things we’ve talked about before: playing crisp defense, throwing strikes, moving baserunners when we need to, getting a guy in when we need to, especially early in games …

“We play a lot of low-scoring games here. So if we can manufacture a run, or even on the pitching side, if you’ve got second and third with no outs, find a way out or limit it to one run. There’s little things that work here. I’ve seen it work here. I’ve watched it when I was younger. For me, the concern is myself and to stop giving up so many runs. I know we’re at zero right now, but I feel good and I’m excited to turn it around and get it started with these guys.”

Whether it’s Melvin or catcher Patrick Bailey or new backup catcher Tom Murphy or pitching coach Bryan Price, you won’t hear a squeak of concern over Webb after he allowed 37 hits in 21 1/3 exhibition innings. The velocity was steady. The pitch shapes were desirable. He struck out 22 and walked three. That ratio will work when games matter.

The greater concern is where the rest of the innings will come from this season. But that isn’t a concern that Webb shares. Asked about the players in camp who impressed him, he gave an answer that might have come across as diplomatically scripted if given by anyone else.

“Can I give you a group of guys?” he said, with enthusiasm lifting his voice. “Mason Black, Landen Roupp, Daulton Jefferies, Spencer Howard and Blayne Enlow. Those guys came into camp ready to go. I don’t know what decisions will be made (for the Opening Day roster), but that group of guys will be so huge for us. I don’t really like calling them bulk guys, but there’s a lot of innings to be pitched and they’ll contribute some big ones. They came into camp and did what they needed to do. I’m super excited to watch them.”

Whether it’s non-roster invitees like Jefferies and Howard or multimillion-dollar free agents like Snell, Chapman and Soler, the Giants’ volume of turnover — and the late date at which they added key pieces — leaves little time for team cohesion.

“We have a lot of new people here, but it all came together pretty quickly,” Melvin said. “It feels like the team’s already close.”

That’s at least partially a credit to Webb, who might be the least cliquish 5-WAR player in the big leagues. Early in camp, Webb encouraged the rookies to do something simple every time they passed a teammate in the clubhouse or the trainer’s room or the cafeteria: say good morning. When you never allow any ice to form, you don’t have to fret about breaking it.

Melvin also pointed to Chapman, his new-old third baseman, as someone who is comfortable leading a clubhouse and has a knack for making his presence felt on a new team without stepping on others. Given the leadership vacuum in the room last season, despite repeated attempts to create a sense of urgency by position players including Mike Yastrzemski, Wilmer Flores, and Thairo Estrada, nobody in that room should feel the least bit slighted that Chapman is willing to set and enforce standards.

He has an advocate in Webb, the pied piper of the National League, who gets along with everyone yet respects the everyday contributions and sacrifices of position players too much to see himself as a primary clubhouse leader.

Even during our brief interview near the top step of the Giants dugout on Sunday, Webb excused himself so he could call Darell Hernaiz, an infielder from Puerto Rico whom he’d never met, to congratulate him on making the A’s Opening Day roster.

Webb is “just a kid who’s interested in everyone and everything,” Cobb said earlier this spring. “He listens to every genre of music, he watches every kind of sport, he’s got his (Sacramento) Kings and (Las Vegas) Raiders. He tries to play all sports and … he’s not so good at some of them. He’s good at baseball, that’s what matters. He’s just a well-rounded person. If you want to go out and know you’ll have fun, you call Logan. He’s easy to make fun of. He dishes it out, he takes it, he doesn’t have a huge ego, but he’s full of respect for people. It’s a good balance.

“One of the things that makes a great leader is they don’t put themselves above anybody. He’s just your friend. He’s definitely not afraid to speak up. But the biggest thing is the way he goes about his business. That’s how he leads — by doing things the right way and treating people the right way.

“And also, in my opinion, he was the best pitcher in the league last year.”

The Giants invested plenty in this roster. They’re confident in how they line up this season. Success is never guaranteed.

But they have Webb on the mound to get the season started. And their Opening Day ace usually finds his way to a good time.