Should SF Giants reconsider having hard-throwing righty in rotation?

The SF Giants entered camp this spring with only one rotation spot up for grabs. With the minor struggles Jordan Hicks has endured thus far, would the Giants have been wise to make his spot in the rotation an open competition as well?

Now, to be fair, Hicks has only appeared in two spring training games for San Francisco thus far. He has a 6.75 ERA in four innings pitched which, while not ideal, is far from atrocious. Therefore, this article is not meant to be an overreaction to Hicks' start to spring but more a questioning of the decision to essentially guarantee him a place in the rotation before camp began.

SF Giants may have been better served having open competition for two rotation spots

In Hicks' most recent start on Sunday against the San Diego Padres, he had a bit of a mixed bag. In total, he pitched 2 and 2/3 innings allowing three earned runs on six base hits and two walks while his fastball velocity was in the mid-to-high 90's for most of his outing. Most of the damage occurred in the third inning in which he did not record an out and allowed all three runs before getting pulled and then returning in the fourth which is allowed per spring training rules.

It is usually unwise to overreact to spring training stats, especially with such a small sample size. What really matters with Hicks is that he appears to be healthy and his velocity looks good. He has also bulked up his lower half to ensure he has more endurance throughout the season and does not run out of gas like he did last summer in his first year as a full-time starter.

However, it was definitely a big vote of confidence from new president of baseball operations Buster Posey when he committed to Hicks rejoining the rotation back in December after the hard-throwing righty was put back in the bullpen last season.

It makes sense given the fact that the Giants signed Hicks to a four-year, $44 million contract with the intention of having him be a starter. But it is fair to be concerned about whether Hicks could truly be an effective starter for an entire season.

We saw how good he can be as a starter. In April last season he was dominant, posting an ERA under 2.00 in the first month of the season before his numbers slowly got worse as the season dragged on. Nonetheless, the idea of having a flamethrower like Hicks as a starter is just too tempting to not try again.

He has already set a lofty goal for himself to make 30 starts in 2025 which would be ten more than he made in 2024. It is definitely doable, but we are going to have to see if he really can endure the rigors of a long season without seeing his velocity drop like it did last season.

The Giants have shown faith in Hicks by committing to him as a member of the rotation so early. We should not overreact to his small hiccups in spring thus far, but that does not mean we cannot be at least a little concerned about whether he can be an effective starter for an entire season.