3 biggest SF Giants disappointments from the first half of the season

3 biggest SF Giants disappointments from the first half of the season

2. Camilo Doval

There’s no denying Doval has an absolutely electric arm, but the elite closer he was over the last two seasons has not shown up yet. He has walked an alarming six batters per nine innings, when his previous career-high BB/9 was only 3.99.

The hard-throwing righty has only blown three saves in 17 chances, which is not terrible by any means, but his 4.41 ERA dwarfs the 2.73 ERA he compiled between 2022 and 2023. His worst outing of the season came in a non-save situation against the Los Angeles Angels on June 16th, where he gave up four hits and two walks while retiring just one batter.

His ERA skyrocketed from 3.62 to 4.88 after that, and he appeared to be pretty disgruntled about it. The 2023 All-Star is not in danger of losing the closer role after a couple of bad outings, but the ninth inning continues to be torturous when you see Doval coming out.

3. Thairo Estrada

Estrada broke out last season, flashing incredible defense and stealing a team-leading 23 bases on his way to 3.6 fWAR. His follow-up to that has been underwhelming so far, though. The most disappointing has been his on-base ability – at .264, he has basically been the anti-Wade.

Estrada's overall slash line of .231/.264/.376 has been 17 percent below league average, and that is even considering offense around the league has been suppressed this year. The top-of-the-lineup potential Estrada once had has eroded, and he is not even providing the club with much-needed baserunning value as he’s only stolen a single base so far.

The Giants could use much, much more from Estrada in general, but that is not going to happen soon as he just landed on the injured list last Friday due to a left wrist sprain. Tyler Fitzgerald was called up in his place, who is not a very enticing Plan B, so Melvin and company will be looking for Estrada to make a speedy recovery and shake off his rough first half.