DENVER — The Giants will give Jordan Hicks the ball on Sunday for his twentieth start of the season, which has already greater than doubled his profession total to start out this season. But that number won't climb to 30. Most likely, it won't even be 25.
Hicks' time within the Giants' starting lineup is coming to an end, manager Bob Melvin confirmed.
Exactly when he’ll assume his next role and the precise details have yet to be determined, but once Robbie Ray and Alex Cobb come off the injured list (each are expected back by the top of the month), Hicks will return to the duties he held for the primary five years of his major league profession, namely as a bullpen pitcher.
“I knew from the beginning it wasn't going to be the whole season,” Hicks said. “Now that we're at this point, it's about making those last starts, being strong and then just accepting it and finding the right plan going forward.”
“Whether that's exclusively in the bullpen or whether that's opening a game, there are a lot of possibilities. Whatever really fits the team best, that's what I want to do and try to get into the playoffs.”
One option that could be attractive to Melvin is to make use of Hicks in a piggyback mode with one among their regulars who’s getting back from injury and can operate with workload limitations, a minimum of initially. This would allow the Giants to not only slowly integrate Ray and Cobb into the rotation, but additionally do the other for Hicks' move to the bullpen.
Melvin ruled out the usage of a six-man rotation, but said regarding piggybacking, “I certainly see the possibility of doing that.”
When Hicks signed his four-year, $44 million contract last winter, he said one among the essential reasons he got here to San Francisco was the possibility to be a starting pitcher, a dream he was barely in a position to fulfill while being placed on the fast track to the main leagues as a hard-hitting reliever.
Hicks, 27, described this season as a “rebuilding year” and is anticipated to be back within the starting lineup in 2025.
But at this point, either side appear to agree on what makes essentially the most sense for the rest of 2024.
The Giants will soon have a full complement of starting pitchers, and their bullpen needs all the assistance it may possibly get because it faces the heaviest workload within the majors. Hicks has already surpassed his profession high with 95 innings, and the Giants recently gave him some extra rest. When he steps onto the mound on Sunday, it should be just his second start in 20 days.
“Even he said he felt it a little bit,” Melvin said. “I think the break came at the right time. We were able to schedule the previous break and then this one. Hopefully it will refresh him a little bit. It was a lot for him.”
The toll the workload has taken is most evident on the radar, where Hicks' fastball has been between 55 and 60 mph for much of the past two months. He's made a cope with himself to offer up his triple-digit-velocity fastball to lengthen his position as a starter, but he's not hitting 98s and 99s like he did earlier within the season.
Upon returning to the bullpen, Hicks said he expects his velocity to extend in shorter bursts.
“I pride myself on being able to do both (start and pitch as a relief pitcher), so I hope everything goes smoothly and we see where we are,” Hicks said. “I'm not going to try to throw 103 when I've been at 95 all year. I don't think that makes health sense. I think it's just going to happen on its own. Your body knows it's got one inning or two innings, whatever it is.”
Looking ahead to next 12 months, Hicks said his longest experience as a starter because the minor leagues has given him the arrogance to proceed his transition to becoming a full-time rotation member, but has also taught him some helpful lessons.
Hicks went six or more innings 3 times in his first six starts and allowed no multiple run in any of them. He had a 1.59 ERA at the top of April. But within the 13 starts since then, he has pitched into the sixth inning only once, recorded one out, and allowed three or more earned runs seven times, including each of his last 4 games.
“I obviously want to get further in games and that's going to be one of the things I'm really focused on this offseason,” he said. “How can I manage the game better? How can I waste fewer pitches? Just finding a way to get those quicker outs. There were a lot of foul balls. I realized I was getting a lot of foul balls. So I'm just trying to find a way to miss bats a little bit more in key situations and go from there. But right now I like where I'm at. Keep building. Keep going.”
Originally published:
image credit : www.mercurynews.com