This story was excerpted from Maria Guardado's Giants Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
SAN FRANCISCO -- Jordan Hicks signed with the Giants last January because they were willing to give him his long-awaited opportunity to start in the big leagues. But that dream will have to be put on hold for now.
After struggling to a 6.55 ERA over his first nine starts of the year, Hicks was moved back to the bullpen, where he spent most of his first five seasons with the Cardinals and Blue Jays. Hayden Birdsong started against the Royals on Tuesday in place of Hicks, who said he has come to terms with his new reality.
“No matter where I’m at, I want to win,” Hicks said. “I think that’s the competitor in me. We have a really good ballclub here. Things just weren’t going the way that we wanted with me as a starting pitcher. I’ve just got to turn the page for now and go do some bullpen work.”
Hicks gave up one run on two hits and one walk in his first relief appearance of the year on Monday night, but the Giants believe he’ll be able to settle back into a role that he has plenty of experience with and add another electric arm to a bullpen that’s been one of the best in the big leagues this year.
Hicks, 28, should be available to cover multiple innings since he’s fully stretched out right now, but it isn’t hard to see him eventually working his way into a backend mix that already includes Randy Rodríguez (0.87 ERA), Camilo Doval (1.21 ERA), setup man Tyler Rogers (2.01 ERA) and closer Ryan Walker (5.00 ERA).
“The numbers speak for themselves,” manager Bob Melvin said. “We have a lot of confidence in those guys. When we have a lead and we go to our bullpen, we feel like we’re in pretty good shape. Hayden was fantastic for us in the bullpen as well. Now that he’s starting, to be able to put somebody in there that’s had a track record of being very successful in the bullpen, too -- we don’t lose any confidence that way, that’s for sure.”
Hicks has averaged 97.2 mph on his sinker and generated a 56.3% ground-ball rate this year, but his strikeout rate has dipped to 19.8%, which is the lowest of his seven-year career. Melvin said Hicks was trying to pitch to contact to get deeper into games as a starter, but he thinks the hard-throwing right-hander could tweak his approach now that he’s going to be used in shorter stints out of the bullpen.
“As a starter, I think that’s more by design, to try to stay out there a little bit longer, just throw the sinker at the bottom of the zone and get some grounders, which he did,” Melvin said. “He was kind of unlucky with it. But the more he’s out there, the more comfortable he gets in the bullpen, I think he’ll start to see more strikeouts.”
Hicks still has two more years left on his four-year, $44 million deal and said he’d like another chance to prove himself as a starter in the future, though the path back to the Giants’ rotation could be tough since the organization already has several other young pitchers waiting in the wings, including Kyle Harrison, Carson Whisenhunt (San Francisco's No. 2 prospect) and Carson Seymour (No. 20).
“I’m not giving up on myself,” Hicks said. “If the opportunity presents itself, I will happily take it. At the same time, I really don’t have much control of the situations. Yeah, I want to be a starting pitcher. That’s always what I’ve wanted to do in the big leagues. It’s not the time right now.”