SF Giants beat reporter predicts recently demoted reliever will rejoin team soon

The SF Giants sent down closer Camilo Doval earlier this month after his intense struggles this year. He has spent some time in Triple-A and a beat reporter for the Giants predicted that he could be back in the big leagues as soon as this next road trip.

Doval has looked pretty solid in his Triple-A appearances. In 5 games he has given up 2 earned runs in 5 and 2/3 innings pitched. He has given up just 2 hits, no home runs, and has recorded 7 strikeouts in this minor league stint. Very importantly, he has only issued one walk during his time with Sacramento.

The walks were probably the biggest issue for Doval this season. He had surrendered 29 walks in 44 innings and just looked like he did not have a handle on any of his stuff at times. If this little wake up call in Triple-A has driven home the message that he has got to throw strikes then perhaps we will see him back with the big league club this weekend.

SF Giants former closer Camilo Doval could be back with team this weekend

Giants beat reporter Alex Pavlovic from NBC Sports Bay Area believes that Doval will be back on the team this weekend. He said as much in a pregame interview he did ahead of Wednesday's game against the White Sox.

Pavlovic talked about Doval's progress in Triple-A and how he has looked good as of late and noted that he is eligible to be called back up ahead of this road trip that begins on Friday in Seattle against the Mariners.

The main question is how Doval will be used if he is called back up. Ryan Walker has looked very solid in the closer role since he has assumed those duties, but perhaps Doval can take over Walker's previous role as a 7th inning guy who sets the table for Tyler Rogers in the 8th.

Doval clearly needs to regain the trust of manager Bob Melvin before he is used in truly high leverage spots again, but easing him in with some work in the 6th or 7th inning could be a good way to reestablish confidence and get him back on track.

While Doval has struggled a lot this season, he is still very talented. We know that when he is right he can be one of the more effective closers in all of baseball. Let's hope that this demotion has given him the wake up call he needed to regain his confidence and start being the Doval of 2022 and 2023 again.