Ex-SF Giants pitching coach may be to blame for young pitcher's 2024 struggles

The SF Giants were hoping 2024 could be a breakout season for young left-handed pitcher Kyle Harrison. It was not meant to be, and his struggles may be partly due to last year's pitching coach Bryan Price.

Harrison's 2024 campaign was not a complete disaster. He had a 4.56 ERA in 24 starts and 124 and 1/3 innings pitched which is what Bill James would likely categorize as leading the league in "meh." He did suffer from several injuries that surely impacted his performance. However, after the promise Harrison showed in his seven starts in 2023 there was a hope he could take a big step forward in year two.

In a recent article by Shayna Rubin of the San Francisco Chronicle (subscription required), Harrison broke down what went wrong last season: "The delivery was suffering from all the other deficiencies. I don’t know how we didn’t see it, it went over our heads, but you throw up the video now compared to last year and it’s like, I’m throwing so much differently and it’s so much cleaner now. I’m so excited because I know how good I can be when I’m fully healthy.” 

Former SF Giants pitching coach Bryan Price may have missed Kyle Harrison's mechanical issue in 2024

Obviously, Harrison does not directly throw Price under the bus. But if one reads between the lines, the main difference between last year and this year is that Bryan Price is no longer the primary pitching coach.

Price was hired onto Bob Melvin's coaching staff last season given their longstanding relationship. Price had a reputation as an old-school style coach who was not as focused on analytics as other pitching coaches. Price decided to step down after his one and only season as the pitching coach and was replaced by J.P. Martinez, an assistant pitching coach for the past several seasons.

It is fair to wonder why, if Martinez was on the staff last season, Harrison's mechanical issue is only being identified now. Maybe it is just one of those things where it is tough to catch it in the middle of the season or it seems too risky to play too much with a recently injured player's mechanics mid-season.

Nonetheless, what matters now is that Harrison seems to be back on track. His dip in velocity was definitely a concern last season, but if he can get back to throwing that 95 mile per hour fastball and getting guys to swing and miss at that pitch up in the zone with his deceptive delivery, we could see him have the kind of season in 2025 that we were hoping for last season.

Harrison is going to be one of several young pitchers competing for the fifth spot in the starting rotation this spring training. If he is back to being his normal self, it would come as no surprise if the San Jose native is able to lock up that final open spot in the rotation.