Hicks’ has been trending in the wrong direction over his first five starts of the year. Are Giants fans concerned?
Good morning, baseball fans!
Last week, I wrote a post asking San Francisco Giants fans if they were concerned about Justin Verlander’s start to the season. Well, I think we have to talk about Jordan Hicks as well now.
Over his first five starts of the year, Hicks has a 6.59 ERA, 3.98 FIP, with 24 strikeouts, 13 walks and a league-leading 20 earned runs. Which is a bummer, because his first couple of starts of the season were pretty promising, allowing just one hit and two walks in his first start, and three runs on six hits in his second.
But it’s only gone downhill from there, unfortunately. Hicks’ most recent start was in the Giants’ 11-3 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday, in which he allowed six runs (five earned) on eight hits with five strikeouts and three walks. He has now lost his last three in a row, allowing an average of six runs per game.
As I prefaced in the post about Verlander, it’s still fairly early in the season and I’m hesitant to form any meaningful opinions on pitchers just yet. We’ve seen it go both ways, pitchers starting off strong in the first half and then plummeting later in the year; or having a terrible start to the season and then bouncing back after the All Star break.
All of that said, there is a reason Hicks was moved back to the bullpen last summer after his first attempt at transitioning into a starter. Although he had a much better start to the year in 2024, he started getting roughed up in June and after five consecutive starts where he gave up an average of four runs in shorter and shorter appearances he was moved to the bullpen. After that, though, he had six straight scoreless appearances in relief.
So I would have to say I am concerned, more about his ability to stay in the rotation given the struggles he’s had thus far. At this point, I feel as though Hayden Birdsong is making a good case to return to the rotation and I would not be surprised to hear news of that in the coming days/weeks. (Or with my luck, before this publishes).
Are you concerned about Jordan Hicks’ start to the season?