SF Giants bullpen still lacks one key ingredient

The SF Giants have made a couple of bullpen moves this offseason, adding Sam Hentges and Jason Foley. Both pitchers excel at keeping the ball on the ground, but the bullpen is still lacking in strikeout pitchers.

SF Giants bullpen still lacks one key ingredient

The Giants have seemingly cornered the market on ground ball pitchers, and they continued that trend by adding Foley and reportedly signing Adrian Houser. This is an area they have excelled at in recent seasons.

The 2025 season was no different, as the pitching staff had the third-highest ground ball rate at 45.3 percent. Not surprisingly, they had the lowest home run rate (0.90 HR/9) in baseball. Ground ball pitchers typically do well at preventing home runs.

In the later innings, teams want and need strikeout pitchers. As good as the Giants’ bullpen was in 2025, they became a liability in the final two months of the season. That was largely due to the trades of Tyler Rogers and Camilo Doval, as well as the injury to Randy Rodríguez.

That said, the current iteration of the Giants bullpen is light on pitchers who can get hitters to swing and miss. That unit posted a 48.6 percent ground ball rate and a 7.93 K/9 rate. The ground ball rate was the best in baseball, but the strikeout rate was the fourth-lowest among MLB bullpens. 

It is nice to have a blend of both. Ground ball pitchers can get a much-needed double player with runners on base. On the other hand, strikeout pitchers are often better at avoiding contact when the play calls for it. 

The Giants still need more on the whiff side. In fairness to Sam Hentges, he brings a nice blend of both traits. He has a 53.4 percent ground ball rate and a 9.71 K/9 rate across four major laser seasons.

Hentges is a lefty, so he could be used situationally against left-handed hitters. He could also see some leverage innings. Hentges has the upside to being a versatile reliever.

On the other hand, Jason Foley has a contact-heavy profile. He throws a sinker that sits in the upper 90’s, but it only had a 13.8 percent whiff rate in 2024. That pitch is intended for contact, and Foley excels on that category.

Interestingly, leverage relievers still flash velocity and swing-and-miss stuff. Foley served as the Detroit Tigers’ closer in 2024, converting 28 saves in 32 opportunities. Despite pitching to contact, he performed well in that role.

Bullpens that pitch to contact can still get babip’d. Giants fans even saw it with Tyler Rogers, albeit rarely. There is no right way to build a bullpen, but the Giants still need more swing-and-miss pitchers if they are going to succeed in 2026.