San Francisco Giants Have Reliable Weapon in Unique Righty Reliever

While the reliever may have a unique delivery, the San Francisco Giants have a reliable option in this pitcher.

Sep 15, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants pitcher Tyler Rogers (71) throws a pitch during the eighth inning against the San Diego Padres at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Bob Kupbens-Imagn Images / Bob Kupbens-Imagn Images

The San Francisco Giants have been a reliably inconsistent team over the last five years. With records reading 29-31 in the COVID-shortened 2020, followed by seasons of 107-55, 81-81, 79-83, and 80-82, if there has been any consistency, it has been consistent mediocrity.

Under the new president of baseball operations Buster Posey, the club looks to change course. They have already made strides toward their goal by extending third baseman Matt Chapman and signing shortstop Willy Adames in free agency.

While they have been making additions through free agency and trades, there is one mainstay who has been a reliable force in their bullpen since debuting in 2019, righty reliever Tyler Rogers.

If you were to watch Rogers pitch, you would immediately wonder how his knuckles do not drag across the dirt on his delivery. His arm action is very similar to Chad Bradford, a member of the (then) Oakland Athletics that has been immortalized by the movie Moneyball.

Much like Bradford, many were quick to question the ability of Rogers, strictly based on his delivery. But since debuting, his consistent ability to take the mound regularly, as well as provide elite production at the back end of the Giants bullpen, has made the pitcher one of the most valuable players on the club.

“Bullpens are never reliable," Bryan Murphy of McCovey Chronicles wrote in an article in May of last year, "but for five seasons now, that’s what Tyler Rogers has been. Does reliable mean anything? Yes. In baseball it means everything.”

Since making his Major League debut with San Francisco, the righty has pitched to a 2.93 ERA across 346 2/3 innings with 258 strikeouts and a 139 ERA+. Rogers has led the National League in appearances in three campaigns, 2020 with 29, 2021 with 80, and 2024 with 77, and has pitched 70 or more innings in each of the last four years.

Many teams in baseball struggle with getting through the final few innings of a game. Whether it is their bullpen's ability, or having to piece things together due to injuries, some managers have nightmares about having a close lead late in a game and having to pull their starting pitcher.

For the Giants, that is anything but the case. And a big part of the thanks for that comfortability should go to the reliever with a funky delivery, Tyler Rogers, the epitome of consistency out of the bullpen.