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San Francisco Giants Former All-Star Closer Taking Step Forward in Spring Training

The San Francisco Giants will need their former All-Star closer to pitch well this season.

Cameron Zunkel

Sep 5, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants pitcher Camilo Doval (75) pitches during the eighth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Oracle Park.
Sep 5, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants pitcher Camilo Doval (75) pitches during the eighth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Oracle Park. / Stan Szeto-Imagn Images
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The San Francisco Giants are fully engulfed in Spring Training, and something is different with their former All-Star closer.

Camilo Doval was one of the best relievers in the MLB during his first three seasons. In those years, the right-handed pitcher made 166 appearances, finished 120 games, recorded 69 saves, threw 162.1 innings, allowed just 124 hits, struck out 204 batters and had an ERA of 2.77.

He made the National League All-Star team in 2023, which was also his best season.

The Giants thought they found their closer of the future. However, that was not the case as Doval had a lot of struggles last year.

In 2024, the 27-year-old had a 4.88 ERA and 1.576 WHIP. He also finished with a career-high in walk rate, hard-hit percentage and opponent OPS. Because of those misfortunes, Doval was sent down to the minor leagues for a little bit and Ryan Walker took over closer duties.

What changed between his All-Star season and last year?

Per Baseball Savant, Doval's walk rate rose 5.1%, his average exit velocity went up, his chase rate went down and his barrel percentage went from the 88th percentile to the 30th percentile.

Overall, the closer got worse in the categories that matter.

2024 is being left in the past and the righty is ready to make an impact in his fifth year.

The offseason improvements from Doval can already be seen during his early workouts this spring.

During Giants Talk presented by NBC Sports Bay Area, Alex Pavlovic mentioned the Dominican pitcher is showing up earlier and he is beginning to mentor the younger bullpen arms a little bit more. A big part of this is Yusmeiro Petit being there to guide him.

Doval is making strides in Spring Training and he wants the closer role back. Still, Walker will assume that responsibility to begin the year. However, having him return to his normal self to pitch the eighth inning while Walker throws the ninth would be a huge asset at Oracle Park.

"For me, that's potentially the strength of this team," Pavlovic said about the possible backend pairing in the same Giants Talk episode.

San Francisco was .500 in one-run games last year and 7-9 in games that went to extra innings. During Doval's good years, the Giants were 15 games over .500 in one-run games and 27-21 in extra innings.

Clearly, not having the former All-Star at his best had an effect on the team.

Having their flamethrower back to pitch high-leverage situations is going to be a huge boost to the bullpen, and should help the Giants win more games as they try to compete in the NL West.

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Cameron Zunkel
CAMERON ZUNKEL

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