Veteran reliever having best year since rookie season with SF Giants

The SF Giants have had a really solid bullpen this season. Tyler Rogers and Ryan Walker have been workhorses for the team, but right along with them in terms of most appearances this year is our old friend Derek Law who is having a career year.

Many fans will remember Law for his breakout season with the Giants as a rookie back in 2016. In 61 games and 55 innings pitched, Law recorded a 2.13 ERA. He was a standout on a team that famously had bullpen issues all year that came to a head in Game 4 of the NLDS against the Chicago Cubs when the bullpen imploded upon itself like a dying star.

That was the peak of Law's time in San Francisco. After that he struggled mightily. 2017 saw him post a 5.06 ERA in 37 and 1/3 innings and 2018 was even worse as he had a 7.43 ERA in 13 and 1/3 innings at the big league level before being demoted to the minors.

The Giants traded him the following year to the Toronto Blue Jays in the Kevin Pillar trade and since then he has bounced around as a journeyman reliever pitching for the Blue Jays, Minnesota Twins, Detroit Tigers, and Cincinnati Reds. He has posted respectable if not outstanding numbers with an ERA in the 4's.

Former SF Giants pitcher Derek Law is having a career resurgence

That is until this season with the Washington Nationals where he is having his best season in the big leagues since his rookie season with the Giants. As of this writing he has a 2.85 ERA in 75 and 2/3 innings pitched. He has also appeared in 61 games which puts him behind only Tyler Rogers (63), Ryan Walker (62), and Houston Astros pitcher Bryan Abreu (62) for most appearances by a pitcher this season.

It is good to see Law have a very solid year like this at the age of 33. He was a good Giant and even had a dance off with Hunter Pence at Fan Fest back in 2018. The Giants seem pretty set in their bullpen right now, but perhaps in the offseason if Law is available a reunion may be in order especially if the Giants decide to move on from struggling closer Camilo Doval and are in need of a right-handed reliever in their bullpen.