San Francisco Giants Need ‘Fireman’ To Emerge in Bullpen With Ryan Walker As Closer

One of the breakout stars for the San Francisco Giants during their underwhelming 2024 campaign was relief pitcher Ryan Walker.

His path to the Major Leagues was not a prototypical one, as he overcame some incredibly long odds to be where he is today. A 31st round pick in the 2018 MLB Draft, he signed for a modest $2,500 bonus as the 916th pick.

Nowadays, Walker wouldn’t have even been selected as there are only 20 rounds in the MLB draft.

His struggles as a senior at Washington State certainly contributed to falling so late in the draft, as he has overcome challenges ever since being selected.

COVID-19 wiped out the 2020 minor league season, but the Giants thought highly enough of Walker to keep him around into 2021.

San Francisco is certainly happy with that decision as he has turned into one of the best relief pitchers in baseball. He made his debut on May 21, 2023 and has been pitching lights out ever since.

After a strong rookie campaign, Walker took his production to another level in 2024.

He was in an elite class of relief pitchers with his 80 innings pitched, producing a 1.91 ERA with 99 strikeouts.

In mid-August, he took over as the team’s closer and didn’t look back. He thrived in that role and manager Bob Melvin announced weeks ago that Walker would be their guy at the end of games in 2025 as well.

However, that move has created a void in the bullpen that someone else is going to have to step up and fill.

“We actually suffered a little bit when he went into the closer’s role because we didn’t have that fireman to come in and get a strikeout, groundball, whatever it is,” Melvin said, via Tyler Kepner of The Athletic (subscription required).

Prior to being named the closer, Walker was someone that Melvin could rely on at any point in the game. 

Middle of the order coming up with guys on base in the sixth inning? No. 74 would be called upon. Tie game in the eighth inning and the Giants want to ensure it remains that way when they return to the plate? Walker was summoned from the bullpen.

In the traditional closer’s role, that won’t be available to Melvin and the coaching staff any longer.

Walker has certainly earned the closer’s role but someone else needs to take over the “fireman” mantle in his place to ensure the team has leads for him to save at the end of games.

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