SF Giants reliever continues struggles in Dominican Winter League

SF Giants reliever Camilo Doval struggled mightily in 2024. Unfortunately, those struggles have continued in the Dominican Winter League as he looks to regain his form ahead of the 2025 season.

Doval had the worst season of his MLB career in 2024. He had a 4.88 ERA in 59 innings pitched and lost the closer role to Ryan Walker. In those 59 innings, he surrendered 39 walks which is just not tenable at the big league level especially if you want to be an effective late inning reliever.

He did show some positive signs towards the end of the season after he lost the closer role and was briefly sent down to Triple-A. His last four outings of the year were all scoreless and he only surrendered one walk.

There was some hope that this was a sign he was getting back on track.

SF Giants reliever Camilo Doval struggling in Dominican Fall League

Unfortunately, Doval has struggled in the Dominican Winter League thus far. The league takes place from November to December and features prospects as well as more established MLB players looking to stay sharp.

It is a small sample size, but Doval's numbers have not been great. In 6 games and 5 and 1/3 innings pitched, he has allowed 4 earned runs for a 6.75 ERA. He has also allowed a home run and has given up 5 walks which is not a great sign. Of course, this is a small sample size and Doval is back home in the Dominican Republic so he is probably just trying to keep pitching to not be too rusty going into next year.

Even if we should not read too much into his numbers, it would be nice to see him performing better after such a rough 2024. Maybe by the time he gets to Spring Training he will have made some adjustments.

Of course, there is no guarantee that Doval will be a Giant in 2025 as there is reporting that some teams are interested in trading for him. It is easy to understand why given the fact that he has incredible raw talent with a high velocity fastball that he can sink and cut along with a wicked slider.

Many teams probably feel that they can tweak him a bit and get him back to his All-Star ways. Plus, he is only projected to earn a salary of $4.6 million next year which is a bargain for a guy who has the potential to be an elite closer.

We will see if Doval can get back on track in 2025, but his small sample size in the Dominican is not a great early sign.