Jordan Hicks’ time in SF Giants’ rotation is coming to an end — for now

DENVER — The Giants will give Jordan Hicks the ball Sunday for his 20th start of the season, already more than twice his career total entering this season, but that figure won’t reach 30. More likely than not it won’t reach 25.

Hicks’ time in the Giants’ starting rotation is coming to an end, manager Bob Melvin confirmed.

Exactly when and the precise nature of his next role are still to be determined, but once Robbie Ray and Alex Cobb are ready to be activated from the injured list — both are expected back by the end of the month — Hicks will return to the duties he performed for the first five years of his major-league career, pitching out of the bullpen.

“I knew going in it wasn’t going to be the whole season,” Hicks said. “Now that we’re kind of getting to that point, it’s about making those last final starts, being strong with it and then just accepting and finding the right plan going forward after.

“Whether that’s strictly in the bullpen, whether that’s opening a game – there’s a lot of options. Whatever really suits the team best is what I’d like to go with and try to make this push for the playoffs.”

One option that could potentially be attractive to Melvin is utilizing Hicks in piggyback fashion with one of their starters returning from injury, who will be operating on workload restrictions, at least initially. This would allow the Giants to not only ease Ray and Cobb into the rotation but do the reverse for Hicks’ move to the bullpen.

Melvin ruled out using a six-man rotation, but he said in relation to piggybacking, “I do see potentially doing that.”

When Hicks signed his four-year, $44 million contract this past winter, he said one of the primary draws that brought him to San Francisco was the opportunity to become a starting pitcher, a dream he had been given little chance to fulfill while being fast-tracked to the majors as a flame-throwing reliever.

Hicks, 27, described this season as a “building year,” and the expectation is that he would resume starting duties again in 2025.

But at this juncture, both sides appear to agree about what makes the most sense for the remainder of 2024.

The Giants will soon have a full complement of starting pitchers, and their bullpen needs all the help it can get having taken on the largest workload of any in the majors. With 95 innings, Hicks has already surpassed his previous career-high, and the Giants have recently been building in extra rest for him. When he takes the mound Sunday, it will be only his second start in 20 days.

“Even he said he was feeling it a little bit,” Melvin said. “I think the break came at the right time. We were able to space out the one before, as well, and then this one. Hopefully he gets a little rejuvenated because of that. It’s been a lot for him.”

The toll the workload has taken is most readily apparent on the radar gun, where Hicks’ fastball has sat in the low-to-mid 90s for the better part of the past two months. He made a bargain with himself to give up his triple-digit fastball to extend himself as a starter, but he’s no longer popping 98s and 99s like he was in the early part of the season.

Returning to the bullpen, Hicks said he expects his velocity to ramp up in shorter bursts.

“I take pride in being able to do both (start and pitch in relief), so hopefully everything goes smoothly and we’ll see where we’re at,” Hicks said. “I’m not going to go and try to throw 103 when I’ve been chilling at 95 all year. I don’t think that makes sense for health. I think it will just happen naturally. Your body knows it’s got one inning or two innings, whatever it is.”

Looking ahead to next year, Hicks said that his most extended exposure to starting games since the minor leagues gave him the confidence to continue his transition to full-time rotation member but also provided him some valuable lessons.

Hicks completed six or more innings three times in his first six starts and didn’t allow more than one run in any of them, owning a 1.59 ERA at the end of April. But in 13 starts since, he has pitched into the sixth inning only once, recording one out, and allowed three or more earned runs seven times, including each of his past four outings.

“I’d obviously like to go deeper in games and that’s going to be one of the things that I really focus on this offseason,” he said. “How can I manage the game better? How can I not waste as many pitches? Just find a way to get those quicker outs. There were a lot of foul balls. I realized I get a lot of foul balls. So just trying to find a way to miss bats a little bit more in key situations and just go from there. But right now I like where I’m at. Keep building. Keep moving on.”