PHOENIX, Arizona–Mark Melancon isn’t closing games for the Giants, but that’s hardly the only plan for the bullpen that San Francisco’s management had at the outset of the season that didn’t come to fruition.
After an impressive showing in his rookie season in 2016, right-hander Derek Law was expected to serve as a set-up man toward the back-end of the Giants’ bullpen this year. And though Law carried a sub-3.00 earned run average into the final week of May, his season blew up in a span of just four weeks.
Between May 22 and June 19, Law surrendered at least one run in six of the nine games he appeared in. In a mid-June outing in Atlanta, Law collapsed, allowing five hits, one walk and four runs in an outing that forced the Giants to option the 26-year-old to AAA Sacramento.
Now, with less than a week remaining until Major League rosters expand from 25 to 40 players, Law is on the cusp of returning to the Giants’ bullpen, and should have the opportunity to finish his season on a positive note.
“I think he does,” Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy said Saturday. “I think it’s fair to say he’s a guy we’ll be looking at to bring up.”
Law will rank among the headliners of a group that San Francisco can begin to call up starting September 1. Law may also not have as much company as many Giants fans anticipate, as Bochy indicated the club will have a “smaller than normal” unit of players added to the roster in September.
Bochy indicated Saturday that both Law and left-hander Steven Okert are among the players who will finish their season with the Major League club, but also said there’s no guarantees. Okert pitched in 32 games this season before his ERA climbed to 6.75 which resulted in his demotion, but Bochy has suggested San Francisco would like to pair Okert with Josh Osich in the Giants’ bullpen down the stretch.
Both Law and Okert were demoted based on their performance, and not because San Francisco needed to make room on its 25-man roster. Since returning to Sacramento, Law has posted a 2.70 ERA, but his 1.40 WHIP is still higher than the Giants would prefer.
“More than anything, just start commanding the ball like he did the year before,” Bochy said, when asked what he wanted Law to improve upon in Sacramento. “That’s what got away from him. Command of the fastball and the breaking ball. You go with confidence as much as anything. Talk about mechanics. He’s got to get back to locating his pitches. As far as velocity, velocity and stuff, it was fine. It was all command.”
On Saturday, Bochy said part of the reason San Francisco’s bullpen has struggled this season is because there’s been significant turnover in personnel. The Giants no longer have dependable lefties like Javier Lopez and Jeremy Affeldt, and many of the pitchers San Francisco did carry in 2017 were young and inexperienced.
“You look at the experience that we lost, Romo, Affeldt, Lopez, Casilla,” Bochy said. “These things take awhile to gel, especially with a younger bullpen.”
One of the positives that emerged from San Francisco’s decision to demote Law was that it opened up a roster spot for rookie Kyle Crick, who continues to impress when he appears on the mound.
Crick routinely touches 96 miles per hour on the radar gun, and on Friday night in Arizona, he entered a tough situation and stranded a runner on third base by registering a strikeout and a harmless flyout.
If Law can return to form in 2018, the Giants have a handful of relievers that give Bochy the confidence that San Francisco will have a more productive and more capable group of arms to rely on in the late innings.
“I think we have a lot to look forward to with the guys that we’ll have healthy,” Bochy said. “Melancon, Will Smith, Dyson and a guy like Law.”