Struggling San Francisco Giants Starter Expected to Join Bullpen

With the San Francisco Giants getting healthy, they'll move one of their starters to the bullpen.

Jun 27, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; Chicago Cubs second baseman Nico Hoerner (left) rounds the bases after hitting a home run against San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Jordan Hicks (right) during the third inning at Oracle Park. / Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports

The San Francisco Giants had every opportunity in the world to take care of business out of the All-Star break against a below-average Colorado Rockies team but failed to do so. Losing the first two games of a three-game set, the Giants need a win like never before.

Entering a four-game set against the Los Angeles Dodgers, there's a chance their season will end in that series if they play how they have over the past two nights.

San Francisco is now 4.0 games out of the third Wild Card spot, which is a tough situation to be in with the Dodgers series coming up.

Who knows, the Giants have been a strange team this year, so perhaps they'll come out against Los Angeles and play better than they have for much of the year. No one would put anything past this ball club at this point.

Speaking of the Dodgers series, right-hander Jordan Hicks will get a start against them, marking his 20th of the season. However, according to Evan Webeck of The Mercury News, that could be one of his last starts of the campaign as he's expected to return to the bullpen.

“I knew going in it wasn’t going to be the whole season,” Hicks said. “Now that we’re kind of getting to that point, it’s about making those last final starts, being strong with it and then just accepting and finding the right plan going forward after.

“Whether that’s strictly in the bullpen, whether that’s opening a game – there’s a lot of options. Whatever really suits the team best is what I’d like to go with and try to make this push for the playoffs.”

The decision to put Hicks back in the bullpen doesn't come as much of a surprise, as Robbie Ray and Alex Cobb are expected to be activated from the injured list by the end of the month.

Hicks, who's thrown more innings this year than he ever has, could probably benefit from the idea, too. The flamethrower pitched well to start the season but has since struggled, allowing 16 earned runs in his last 18 1/3 innings pitched.

Once one of the top bullpen arms in baseball when he was at his best, Hicks did struggle at times over the past four years.

It's uncertain what his role will be out of the bullpen, but San Francisco could use the help.

The expectation is for him to return to the starting rotation in 2025. It went well for most of his starts, which is a good sign moving forward.