Embattled San Francisco Giants Reliever Predicted for Turnaround Season

The San Francisco Giants would certainly love to see this reliever turn things around and solidify their bullpen in 2025.

Sep 15, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants pitcher Camilo Doval (75) throws a pitch during the tenth inning against the San Diego Padres at Oracle Park. / Bob Kupbens-Imagn Images

The offseason has been filled with relatively good vibes for the San Francisco Giants so far.

Team legend Buster Posey is now in charge of baseball operations. He broke the team’s curse when it comes to trying to sign big-name free agents by landing shortstop Willy Adames to the largest deal in team history.

Sure, they whiffed on Corbin Burnes. But it doesn’t sound like the Giants were all that “in” on Burnes.

What San Francisco really needs is for some of its current players to get back in gear for next season, none more so than Camilo Doval.

The closer had such a bad season in 2024 that at various times the Giants considered trying to trade him and sent him to the minor leagues.

But, there may be good news. MLB.com had its writers make one bold prediction for each team, and those writers predicted that Doval would turn things around and have a bounce-back season.

So, what does that look like? Well take a look at the 2023 season, one that led to Doval making the National League All-Star team.

Doval was fantastic in his second full season as the Giants’ closer. He went 6-6 with a 2.93 ERA as he saved an NL-high 39 games in an NL-high 60 appearances. He struck out 87 and walks 26 in 67.2 innings.

That built onto his intriguing 2022 season in which he saved 27 games and went 6-6 with a 2.53 ERA. He struck out 80 and walked 30 in 67.2 innings.

That’s what made last season so befuddling to fans and Giants officials alike. He went 5-3 with a 4.88 ERA, as he saved 23 games. He struck out 78 and walked 39 in 59 innings.

While his electric fastball — which has been clocked as high as 104 mph — was there, the command was not. The 27-year-old right-hander became so erratic that the Giants took him out of the role and eventually sent him to Triple-A Sacramento. But not before San Francisco put out trade feelers on him at the deadline.

Doval spent roughly two weeks with the River Cats, where in five appearances he went 1-0 with a hold and struck out seven in 5.2 innings. More importantly, he only walked one hitter.

It seemed to help. In his final seven games he went 0-1 with a 3.86 ERA as he struck out 10 and walked three in seven innings.

If Doval truly can turn things around in 2025, that would make the Giants a much better team, potentially a playoff contender, in Posey’s first year in charge of baseball operations.