San Francisco Giants Starter Appears To Have Taken Leap in Second Season Starting

The San Francisco Giants are off to a 5-1 start after winning the opening series against the Cincinnati Reds before staying on the road and sweeping the Houston Astros in what was a fairly dominant three days.

For as impressive as the offense has been thus far with numerous long balls and hits coming when they need to, it's been the pitching staff that has been the most intriguing aspect of the team.

The bullpen has been solid in their relief efforts, but it's the starting rotation -- which entered the regular season appearing thin at best and below average at worst -- which has really carried the load so far.

Landen Roupp showed some intriguing upside during what was an up and down first start in the sweep-clinching victory on Wednesday. Logan Webb has looked like the same rock solid version of himself. Justin Verlander impressed in his Giants debut, and Robbie Ray looks like he's returned to being a front-end starter.

The most impressive pitching performance so far this season, however, came from the player in the rotation who was least talked about by fans and media headed into the year.

Despite a battle at the back end of the rotation for the final spot, Jordan Hicks was a lock entering the second season of his four-year, $44 million contract.

Arriving to San Francisco as a reliever, the Giants signed him to the lucrative contract with the intention of converting him to a starter.

Though there were some flashes last season in his first full year in a rotation, a couple of injuries and overall inconsistency marred his first campaign in the Bay Area.

His first start of the season on Monday was anything but inconsistent, though.

Hicks tossed six scoreless innings and gave up just one hit, striking out six and walking two en route to giving up no runs and earning just his fifth victory as a member of the team.

While the rotation was expected to add some high-profile names this offseason who could have potentially pushed Hicks either to the back of the staff or back to the bullpen entirely, things didn't play out that way and the 28-year-old entered the season as a critical piece of the puzzle.

One start is a small sample size, so Hicks still has a ton of work to do in order to have a strong season.

With that being said, if the right-hander has taken a leap in his second year as a starting pitcher, it would go a long way towards raising the overall ceiling of the rotation and what this team can accomplish as a whole.