San Francisco Giants Have Star Emerging As High-Leverage Option in Bullpen

The San Francisco Giants have received a ton of major contributions from up and down their roster that have helped get the team out to a 19-10 record.

That has them in a tie for first place in the uber-competitive National League West with the Los Angeles Dodgers, only one win short of the New York Mets, who have the best record in baseball at 20-9.

One of the positional groups on the team that has excelled overall is the bullpen.

Some early struggles from closer Ryan Walker after his historic 2024 campaign have been compensated for by Camilo Doval regaining the form he showed prior to 2024 as one of the up-and-coming closers in baseball.

Tyler Rogers remains one of the best workhorses out of the bullpen in baseball, making 15 appearances and throwing 14.1 innings with a 0.63 ERA.

He has a 0.7 WAR, which matches the production of Hayden Birdsong, who has thrived in his role as a multi-inning relief pitcher.

His future is still as a starting pitcher, but with Landen Roupp winning the No. 5 job, the Giants opted to deploy him out of the bullpen. It is a strategy that has paid off with Birdsong throwing 16 innings across seven appearances with a 1.13 ERA and 18 strikeouts.

The young flamethrower has done a wonderful job of cutting back on the walks and home runs allowed, leading to a lot of success.

However, there has one one relief pitcher on the staff who has outperformed even Rogers and Birdsong in some facets; Randy Rodriguez.

The unheralded 25-year-old made his MLB debut on May 4, 2024. As a rookie, he threw 52.1 innings in 35 appearances to some mixed results with a 4.30 ERA.

He has taken his production to another level over the first month of the 2025 season, being highlighted by David Schoenfield of ESPN as someone who has been All-Star worthy over that span.

Despite not being a closer, Rodriguez’s performance should lead to him being considered for the Midsummer Classic, especially if he keeps pace with some of the numbers has produced to this point.

“A typical fastball/slider reliever, Rodriguez has yet to allow a run -- or a walk -- as he has moved into a key setup role for the Giants,” Schoenfield wrote.

The no home runs and walks allowed are truly impressive, and he is doing it with a truly nasty arsenal. His breaking balls have produced an elite run value of +4, which is in the 96th percentile, per Baseball Savant.

His production seems sustainable as well with his xSLG (.256), wOBA (.189), xwOBA (209), strikeout rate (38.1%), walk rate (0.0%) and xERA (1.62) all being in at least the top 6% of baseball.

Rodriguez is one of the reasons why when San Francisco has a lead late in the game, they are successfully closing out victories.