Baseball is famous for its unwritten rules. Don’t steal with a big lead. Don’t bunt to break up a perfect game in the ninth inning. Don’t stare at home runs too long. Don’t feed Justin Turner after midnight.
There are unwritten rules for the writers, too. The most important one is to never write positive articles about a bullpen unless it’s an off-day. It’s far, far, far too common for a laudatory article about a bullpen to come out hours before a horrific blown save. Then it hangs around for days on the homepage, like a certified and framed declaration of the author’s stupidity.
Instead, I planned a simple, uncontroversial article about the workload and effectiveness of the Giants bullpen after the team completed a 10-day road trip and endured a 17-game stretch without an off-day. It wasn’t going to be a laudatory article about how well they’re pitching, but a nuts-and-bolts article about how they’re being used compared to the rest of the league. What was the risk, that their closer was going to have a horrific, unforgivable blown save in the last inning of the road trip, which would make readers nauseous at the concept of bullpens in general?
Yes. Yes, that’s a potential risk. When Ryan Walker entered the ninth inning of Sunday’s game, the Giants’ win probability was 95.7 percent. When he left, there was a 100-percent probability that you weren’t in the mood for an article about the bullpen.
wheeeeee!
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Still, even after the unpleasantness of the road trip’s final inning, it’s important to check in with the Giants’ relievers. How hard have they been worked compared to other bullpens around the league? How effective have they been (or not been)? How good did Zach Neto feel when he scored the winning run for the Angels after taking a 96-mph sinker to the sternum?
Maybe we can skip that last rhetorical question.
In the fourth game of the season, Erik Miller came in for his third appearance. His job was as simple as it was stressful: Retire one of the best left-handed hitters in baseball in a high-leverage situation. It worked, but Miller was on an unsustainable usage pattern. The only lefty in the Giants’ bullpen was on pace to pitch 122 games this season. Even Felipe Alou would think that’s too many appearances for a reliever. Something was going to have to change.
Something changed. Miller’s workload moved from unsustainable to entirely typical. The Giants’ wacky one-lefty experiment hasn’t been that noticeable so far, which is a big early surprise.
Let’s look at where Giants relievers rank in different usage-related categories, starting with the most obvious one — appearances. We’ll use the stats entering Sunday’s game, as Baseball-Reference hasn’t updated as of this writing, and nothing happened with the Giants’ bullpen on Sunday anyway. Nothing happened at all.
MLB rank in appearances
5 (t.) Tyler Rogers, 11 appearances
19 (t.) Randy Rodríguez, 10
56 (t.) Camilo Doval, 9
56 (t.) Erik Miller, 9
114 (t.) Ryan Walker, 8
114 (t.) Lou Trivino, 8
193 (t.) Spencer Bivens, 6
212 (t.) Hayden Birdsong, 5
It’s not surprising to see Rogers near the top. Since 2021, only Emmanuel Clase has appeared in more games than Rogers, and no reliever has thrown more innings. Rogers has thrown 56 more innings than the reliever with the 10th-most innings since 2021, which is the equivalent of a full season for a lot of relievers. Uncommonly effective relievers who stay healthy tend to find themselves pitching in a lot of games.
Except it’s not that helpful to focus only on appearances. They’re not all created equal. Rogers led the National League in appearances last season, but when it came to total pitches thrown, he didn’t even lead his family, much less his team. Taylor Rogers appeared in 17 percent fewer games, but he threw almost 100 more pitches over the season.
Let’s see where the Giants rank in pitches thrown in relief so far.
MLB rank in pitches thrown
84 (t.) Lou Trivino, 154 pitches thrown
121 (t.) Randy Rodríguez, 139
128 (t.) Spencer Bivens, 137
132 (t.) Hayden Birdsong, 136
152 (t.) Tyler Rogers, 131
157 (t.) Camilo Doval, 129
157 (t.) Ryan Walker, 129
172 (t.) Erik Miller, 124
You could have given me eight guesses, and I wouldn’t have come up with the Giants’ leader in this category. However, one of the reasons that Trivino wouldn’t have come to mind is that he hasn’t been overworked at all; there have been 83 relievers who have thrown more pitches than he has. Mariners reliever Eduard Bazardo has appeared in 11 games this season, and he’s thrown 230 pitches, which is over 100 more than every left-handed reliever on the Giants combined.
If anything, it’s possible that Miller isn’t getting enough work. He’s walked six batters in his seven innings of work, and it’s possible that rust has something to do with that. That’s just unfounded speculation, though, and the main takeaway is that Giants relievers haven’t been worked that hard in terms of pitches thrown.
Pitches thrown aren’t a perfect metric, either. There’s necessary context that has to be included. A pitcher whose season consists of throwing 36 pitches in every outing for 25 straight days will throw as many pitches that season as a pitcher who throws 10 pitches in each of his 90 outings. Only one of them will have an elbow and shoulder that smells like a backfiring 1973 Chevy Vega, though. Let’s see how often Giants relievers have been used without rest.
MLB team rank in back-to-back outings
1. Brewers, Padres (15)
3. Cardinals (14)
4. Reds, Guardians, Pirates (13)
7. Rockies, Mariners, Blue Jays, Twins, Rangers (12)
12. Giants, Dodgers, Cubs, Rays, Braves (11)
17. Red Sox, Nationals, Royals, Orioles, Tigers (10)
22. Angels, White Sox (9)
24. Marlins, Athletics, Diamondbacks, Astros (8)
28. Phillies, Yankees, Mets (7)
The Giants are right in the middle, neither tempting fate nor avoiding back-to-back outings entirely. Walker and Doval each had a zero-rest outing on Sunday, so the list is fluid. Considering the Giants still don’t have an off-day for another week, they might charge up the charts. Still, this sort of tally is what the Giants are more focused on than simple appearances. After a game on the last homestand, manager Bob Melvin mentioned that Rogers wasn’t available for a game because he’d pitched six out of the previous eight games. It’s not just the back-to-back outings, but an overall accumulation that counts. The Giants aren’t outliers either way.
Overall percentage of team innings thrown by the bullpen
|
Rank
|
Team
|
Bullpen IP%
|
|---|---|---|
|
1 |
47.6% |
|
|
2 |
47.2% |
|
|
3 |
44.9% |
|
|
4 |
44.7% |
|
|
5 |
44.4% |
|
|
6 |
44.3% |
|
|
7 |
43.3% |
|
|
8 |
43.2% |
|
|
9 |
42.7% |
|
|
10 |
42.7% |
|
|
11 |
41.5% |
|
|
12 |
41.4% |
|
|
13 |
41.0% |
|
|
14 |
40.7% |
|
|
15 |
40.5% |
|
|
16 |
40.3% |
|
|
17 |
40.2% |
|
|
18 |
40.1% |
|
|
19 |
39.3% |
|
|
20 |
39.2% |
|
|
21 |
39.0% |
|
|
22 |
38.7% |
|
|
23 |
38.3% |
|
|
24 |
38.3% |
|
|
25 |
38.2% |
|
|
26 |
37.9% |
|
|
27 |
37.5% |
|
|
28 |
36.4% |
|
|
29 |
35.8% |
|
|
30 |
35.4% |
Last season, the Giants’ bullpen absorbed 45.7 percent of their total innings, which was one of the highest ratios in baseball. They’re far below that this season, at least so far. Similar to Tyler Fitzgerald’s OPS over the road trip, a few games could change everything. If a couple starters can’t make it past the third inning in an upcoming series, perhaps the Giants will jump substantially in these rankings.
Still, this is notable, considering the rotation includes:
• a 42-year-old
• a pitcher going for his first full healthy season since 2022
• a converted reliever trying for his first full season as a starter
• a pitcher with eight career starts
Those are four profiles that typically don’t offer a lot of innings relative to other starting pitchers, but they’re doing just enough to allow the Giants a chance to manage the overall workload in the bullpen better. Having both Birdsong and Bivens — relievers with the ability to pitch more than one inning with some regularity — certainly plays a part in this. If the Giants can get through the season with a comparatively healthy and effective bullpen, maybe this is a template to copy. Instead of one designated long reliever, maybe two quasi-medium relievers is the way to go.
After the first week of the season, with a couple starters pitching fewer than five innings and the only left-handed reliever being worked hard, the overall workload of the Giants’ bullpen was something to keep a close eye on. It’s still something to watch, but the early returns suggest the workload is being spread around well.
That doesn’t mean there won’t be occasional hiccups with the bullpen. Or something worse than hiccups, like extended and uncomfortable belches, which is a fair way to describe Sunday. But once the games start, there’s only so much within the manager and front office’s control. Usage is one of those things, and it looks like the Giants are on the right track so far.
(Photo of Walker: Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Getty Images)