The SF Giants bullpen could quietly have strong depth in 2025

The SF Giants will begin the season with Ryan Walker and Tyler Rogers as the closer and setup man, respectively. How they get the ball to them remains to be seen but they have a few options they could explore.

The SF Giants bullpen could quietly have strong depth in 2025

The Giants bullpen was middle of the pack with a 3.96 ERA last season. The underlying numbers suggest they were better than that, but in terms of run prevention, they were in the middle. Interestingly, that unit was much better in the second half as they recorded a 3.38 ERA while things seemed to click. This was due largely to the emergence of a lot of unexpected options.

The Giants are hoping for a bounceback season from Camilo Doval. His past two years highlight the volatile career arcs that are often associated with relievers. He was an All-Star and lockdown closer in 2023 but struggled so badly last year that he was briefly demoted to the minors.

Doval still has a fastball that comfortably reaches triple digits with a wipeout slider, so there is still a lot to like. The question is will he be able to show better control than he did last year?

The club did not make any major additions to the bullpen this offseason. They added Joey Lucchesi and Lou Trivino (reportedly) on minor league deals. They also traded away Taylor Rogers, thereby chipping away at the light depth they already had from the left side.

That is an opening they will want to address as the bullpen allowed a .251 batting average against left-handed hitters in 2024. Erik Miller emerged as the go-to lefty in those spots but it would take a lot of pressure off of him to have a second option.

The Giants also got some quietly nice seasons out of Spencer Bivens, Sean Hjelle, and Randy Rodríguez. Bivens and Hjelle did a nice job of attacking the zone and keeping the flow of the game moving. Bivens pitched to a 3.14 ERA in 27 appearances. He had a below-average strikeout rate but there is some upside as a reliable reliever capable of handling low-and-medium leverage opportunities.

On the other hand, Hjelle found a role in the bullpen after coming up as a starter. He struggled a little more in multi-inning outings but was pretty effective in one-inning stints. The right-handed hurler displayed much better control than he has in the past. Plus, deploying a mid-90's fastball from a 6-foot-11 release point gives him a relatively unique downwad plane on his pitches that lead to a lot of ground balls.

Rodríguez might be a small adjustment away from becoming a potential leverage option. He had struggled with his control in the minors. It looked like there was an intentional effort made to hit the strike zone, leading to a few too many middle-middle fastballs. This is easier said than done, but if he can limit those mistakes and pitch more in the four quadrants, he can be pretty tough to hit.

The Giants will also likely be relying on Carson Seymour, Carson Ragsdale, and Tristan Beck at times during this season. In particular, Beck could slide into a swingman role. However, relievers tend to have large variances in terms of year-over-year performances. The best way to protect against that is to have options and it feels like the Giants have a little more depth in the bullpen than they have had in recent seasons.