The Giants are moving Camilo Doval back into the closing role, manager Bob Melvin told reporters after Wednesday’s loss to the Tigers (video provided by Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area). Ryan Walker, who has held the job since the middle of April, is moving into a setup capacity. He pitched the eighth inning while trailing by a run during today’s game.
Walker only allowed one run through his first eight appearances. He has been more up-and-down since then, giving up multiple runs in four of his most recent 14 outings. Walker has still successfully closed out 10 of 12 save chances, but he carries an earned run average approaching 5.00. His strikeout rate, which sat north of 32% a season ago, is down to a pedestrian 21.6% clip this season.
While Walker will still receive his fair share of high-leverage assignments, Doval has recaptured the ninth inning with a fantastic first couple months. The hard-throwing righty owns a 1.16 ERA across his first 23 1/3 innings. He has given up six runs (three earned) all season, all of which came in a three-game span between April 4-7. Doval is closing in on a two-month scoreless streak that has spanned 18 innings. Opponents have collected four hits while striking out 18 times during that stretch.
The 27-year-old looks to have rediscovered the form that made him an All-Star two seasons ago. Doval led the National League with 39 saves in 2023 and posted consecutive sub-3.00 ERA showings between 2022-23. Things went off the rails in the second half of last season. Doval couldn’t find the strike zone, eventually costing him the closing job and his spot on the MLB roster altogether. The Giants optioned him back to Triple-A in August. They brought him back up in September, but he continued to struggle in lower-leverage situations.
San Francisco rebuffed trade interest in Doval over the winter, preferring not to sell low on an obviously talented arm. They’ve been rewarded for their patience with a rebound that could earn him another All-Star selection this summer. Doval is making $4.525MM and remains under arbitration control for two seasons beyond this one.
This was figured weeks ago. Just a matter of the right time to do it. I love what the bullpen is doing as we all do. I am semi happy with the rotation but with a better offense, the rotation would probably be better as well. The offense has been vacant. Perhaps a power hitting left handed first baseman ??? Just a matter of time there as well. Catcher ? Perhaps next season. Trade a gold glove catcher for more offense. And Lee should be the leadoff man now. Stack the top of the order first and foremost. Ramos 2 hole is great. The makeup is a little off. Chapman and Adames are anchors Not 5, 6 hitters who do nothing. But they’re with us for another handful of seasons. Have to make it work with these guys.
Moronic GM. I said this last year, Doval is a top 5 closer. He messed up a couple times and they removed him from the closer role. Absolutly destroyed his confidence
Walker’s 2024 was better than any season Doval has had in his career. So if he were indeed a top 5 closer last year Walker was a top 4 or better.
As far as Doval’s confidence, he’s now pitching better than he ever has, so not sure how it has been destroyed.
Doval destroyed himself. He is a big boy. His “destroyed confidence” feelings didn’t get in the way of his 2025 success.
It’s just the mercurial nature of closers. Most closers throw two pitches, and if command is off on either one they can appear to have lost it. Only the best stay dominant year after year.
To be fair most pitchers are basically 2 pitch pitchers with a few show me pitches. Closers usually throw one big pitch E.G. Rob Dibble threw the fastball. Mariano Rivera threw the cutter. Chapman throws a fastball. Devin Williams throws that change up when he was closing. All of these guys obviously had more than that, but they are known for the one pitch. So if that’s off they are in real trouble. Mercurial is right!!
Chris from NJ, I guess you mean most relief pitchers are 2 pitch pitchers. I don’t know if that’s true or not. but I think you’d be hard pressed to find any 2 pitch starting pitchers.
90% of starters are basically 2 pitch pitchers with a few show me pitches. Your Uber talents have 3. Skenes throws a fastball/splitter. He has a great slider so he’s a 3 pitch guy. Kershaw throws a fastball/curveball. Clemens was fastball/split. Pedro fastball/circle change with a wicked curve. Randy Johnson threw fastball/slider. Do you see what I’m getting at? All starters have 4 to 6 pitches in total but 2 to 4 of those pitches aren’t going to be thrown much. Your closers really have one big pitch E.G. Rivera throwing the cutter. He has a 4 seamer and a sinker but he’s known for the cut fastball. Dibble threw more than heat but nobody talks about his breaking stuff.
Not sure where you’re getting your info.
From Fangraphs:
Paul Skenes 2025 pitch usage: Fastball 36.3%, Splitter 22.7%, Sinker 6.6 %, Slider 21.7%, Curve 4.8%, Changeup 7.9%.
Skenes throws the slider almost as often as the splitter. And, I can guarantee you that he isn’t throwing curves and changeups merely as a show me pitch. The low percentage pitches work since the hitter isn’t looking for them as much. Throwing a pitch less than 10% does not make it irrelevant. He has as many outs above average on his changeup, 3.6, as he does with his splitter. His most outs above average, 6.5 come with his slider.
Skenes is throwing the fastball less than 40% of the time. That means he throws less than 5 fastballs per changeup. That changeup cannot be dismissed as low usage and therefore irrelevant.
I’m sorry but Clemens, Pedro, Johnson, Dibble etc. are not relevant. That was baseball from more than a decade ago,.to 3 decades ago.
@Chris Nowhere near 90% of SP’s are basically 2 pitch arms. Fangraphs and many others track these things, it is simply not reality.
Why people continue to take you, Metsin7, seriously is a mystery.
@gravel because I’m a baseball genius
About the furthest thing from a genius. If one tries to be wrong, they’d be hard pressed to do so as consistently as you.
Tbf, Walker had such an elite season last year, so I don’t blame the Giants for keeping him as their closer to begin the season. They did decide to keep Doval anyhow, so they showed they still had belief that he could recapture his All-Star form, and he proved them right 🤷🏽♂️
I feel like walker deserves to be a closer on a lot of teams and this might complicate things in the bullpen
Could they get a good bat in return for him? Seems like Kansas City could be a suitor or Philadelphia or the cubs
KC needs a bat. Walker is highly unlikely to be traded and the Royals back end of the bullpen is strong.
Love the years the Giants pen is having. The outfield is fine.the whole infield has been a offensive disappointment.
Melvins lineups are baffling.
Offense started off pretty good. Got kind of spoiled from that. Problem now is almost everyone cooled off at the same time. Should swing back around soon. Long seasons of ups and downs. Pitching staying steady, and that’s huge. Luciano getting 1B starts in AAA, Encarnacion getting close so maybe help is on the way.
I’m going to repeat my complaint from last season. I think at least some of the blame for the hitting is Burrell and the other hitting coaches. The hitters have fallen into the same bad habits that made them a .701 OPS, 101 OPS+ team last season. Hacking at the first pitch that’s close to the strike zone, even in the first inning.
The 2nd game against the Nat’s is the perfect example. The Nat’s don’t have a good bullpen, and yet Irvin had a 7 pitch first inning, He went 8 full throwing only 96 pitches. I know the philosophy that maybe the best pitch to hit is the first one, but if those pitches were so good to hit why did the Giants have only 3 hits?
Every Giant saw Irvin 3 times. Wouldn’t they want to see more of his stuff early on? That would give them a better chance of recognizing whether that first pitch was worth swinging at.
I believe in a patient aggression, but the Giants’ hitters seem to be going to the plate with an overly aggressive approach, like they’re anxious to swing, or they’re afraid to hit with 2 strikes. Either they’re going to plate with a bad approach, or the hitters aren’t good at pitch recognition or lack bat to ball skills.
They did seem to work counts deeper early on. Hard to watch last couple of series. There’s time to turn it around though. Might be time to make an example out of someone, cough Wade cough cough.
Yeah, I get really agitated when I see one pitch one out to start a game. They definitely did work the pitcher more early on. I thought maybe word came down from Posey, or changes below Burrell were made, but it hasn’t lasted.
The trouble with dumping Wade is, he’s one of the few with a good approach at the plate. Granted, the results aren’t there, but he works the count, and doesn’t chase much. He has the 4th most walks on the team with the 7th most PAs. 35 fewer than 6th place Yaz.
Walker and Doval are just keeping the role warm for Randy Rodriguez down the road.
came to say this exact thing
Rodriguez’ numbers look strong on the surface but he has allowed 53% of inherited runs to score…. costing Hicks and Roupp victories recently. Yet Melvin keeps using him in high-leverage situations. Threw a center-cut fast-ball with two strikes and two outs yesterday.
IRS, one of my favorite stats. Should be in the pitching stats of the box score.
I think the Giants could stand to trade a relief pitcher plus? for some offense. The Giants have pitching depth in the minors right now. Hjelle is lights out. Everyone talks about Whisenhunt but this kid in Richmond is on a huge roll (Joe Whitman). Anyway, the Giants current bullpen is the most impressive I’ve seen in years.
Hope so. Hicks and Beck for me. The latter might even be on a little showcase.
Doval’s issues last year before he was sent down were his doing. Among them being aloofness. His stuff was still pretty good but he was walking too many, wasn’t paying attention to runners, wasn’t covering first base and letting the pitch clock run out many times. They sent him down to work on all those issues and on all counts he’s done all of that much better this year. More to being a closer than just good stuff.
I think Doval was mismanaged from a promotional perspective. Went too hard too early on the Camillo is a star. Wasn’t the same after the light show entrance. Too much, too early for the man. Here’s hoping they don’t bring it back.