San Francisco Giants Dealt Another Injury Blow to Already Reduced Pitching Staff

The San Francisco Giants placed another one of their pitchers on the injured list Tuesday.

Aug 23, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; San Francisco Giants reliever Jordan Hicks (12) delivers a pitch during the seventh inning against the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park. / Stephen Brashear-USA TODAY Sports

The San Francisco Giants placed lefty Robbie Ray on the IL on Tuesday after he left a start early with hamstring tightness. Shortly thereafter, they also placed starter/reliever Jordan Hicks on the injured list.

Hicks was placed on the 15-day IL with shoulder tightness, and the Giants recalled reliever Austin Warren to replace him.

San Francisco signed the 27-year-old to a four year, $44 million deal in a busy offseason. In an experiment of sorts, they moved him to the rotation to begin the season. He started 20 games to the tune of a 4.01 ERA striking out 90 batters in 98.2 innings.

After passing his career high in innings, the Giants transitioned him back to the bullpen to save some mileage on his arm.

In eight games out of the bullpen, Hicks has thrown 9.2 innings, allowing 3 runs with five walks, five strikeouts and a save.

While he is not the closer, it's still a blow to the San Francisco bullpen in terms of a hard throwing reliever.

According to manager Bob Melvin, the right-hander has been dealing with "shoulder discomfort" for a while. In his last outing, he walked two and allowed a run, and his fastball velocity was down to 93 mph.

Placing him on the injured list will give him some rest and time to heal after he surpassed 100 innings for the first time in his Major League career.

The corresponding move was to call up reliever Austin Warren, who was signed by the Giants in February after being released by the Los Angeles Angels.

The 28-year-old has spent the majority of his season with Triple-A Sacramento, but he didn't start pitching until June when he rehabbed after Tommy John.

In 25 games overall, Warren has thrown 24 innings while striking out 27 batters and walking only six. His ERA was 4.88, but in a hitters league like the Pacific Coast League, pitching numbers are always inflated.

While Warren won't exactly replace Hicks in that specific role of later inning reliever, he adds great depth to a solid bullpen.

San Francisco also announced that catcher Jackson Reetz cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A.

Jordan Hicks has been extremely versatile for the Giants all season and pitched well in whichever role he was asked to. After receiving a multi-year deal and transitioning to the rotation, something like this was possible given he had never thrown this many innings in a season. For now, he will need to get healthy and possibly help in a stretch run, but there is no timetable on his return yet.