San Francisco Giants Beat Writer Offers Opinion on Potential Jordan Hicks Role

The San Francisco Giants made a lot of moves with their pitching staff in the offseason leading into the 2024 campaign.

There were headline grabbers, such as signing reigning Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell and trading for former winner of the award, Robbie Ray. There were also some more slightly under the radar additions, such as Jordan Hicks.

Alas, none of the moves paid off as much as the team had hoped they would.

It took Snell until July to find his groove and he is poised to hit the free agent market again after a really strong summer. Ray made only seven starts as he battled injuries throughout.

Injured list stints also plagued Hicks in his first season with the Giants.

Signed to a four-year, $44 million deal last winter, Hicks began 2024 in the team’s starting rotation. He made 20 starts before shifting to the bullpen, where he made eight appearances before getting hurt.

His last appearance was on August 24th before he missed about three weeks of action. He returned to pitch one more time on September 14th against the San Diego Padres, but ended the season on the injured list again.

Durablity has been a concern for the talented righty throughout his Major League career. This past season was the most starts and innings that he has pitched in a single season, as he broke triple-digits for the first time with 109.2.

Heading into the offseason, it will be interesting to see what the plan is for Hicks moving forward. There could be a more pressing need for the bullpen than starting rotation in 2025, which could play into the decisionmaking.

One San Francisco beat writer believes a hybrid role could be best for him moving forward.

“It all depends on how he’s feeling in the spring. The bullpen was a fallback plan all along. Honestly, Hicks might be most valuable in a swingman role for a team willing to deploy its pitching in a non-traditional way. I’m not sure that will describe the Giants in 2025, though,” wrote Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic when answering a mailbag question.

He lasted longer as a starter than some people thought he would, but there is a lot of strain on his shoulder to succeed in such a role. An overworked bullpen would certainly receive a boost from someone of Hicks’ caliber.

But, as Baggarly noted, it is anyone’s guess if the team would deploy such a strategy with their pitching. A team such as the Detroit Tigers with their chaos approach would be the ideal situation for the 28-year-old based on his answer as a swingman.