Pressure on Ryan Walker to Restore Giants’ Faith in His Closing Skills in 2026

The San Francisco Giants have a wide-open closer situation in 2026, and they need Ryan Walker to step into that void.

San Francisco Giants relief pitcher Ryan Walker (74) reacts after the game against the Colorado Rockies at Oracle Park. | Kelley L Cox-Imagn Images

At one point in 2025, the San Francisco Giants were lousy with solid back-end relievers.

Camilo Doval had restored his value as a closer. Randy Rodríguez was, perhaps, the best late-inning, non-closer in the game. Ryan Walker, a previous closer, remained in the mix. But things changed fast.

San Francisco, sensing it was out of the playoff picture in July, traded Doval to the New York Yankees. Rodríguez hurt his elbow and needed Tommy John surgery, so he’s out for all of 2026. Walker is the only remaining member of the trio, and his performance last season leaves questions marks.

The Giants haven’t addressed the closer role in free agency or via trade, so, for now Walker is the guy to take the ninth inning. That means the Giants need the 2024 Ryan Walker and not the 2025 Ryan Walker.

Ryan Walker’s Chances of a Bounce Back

Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

MLB.com unveiled its bounce-back candidates for each team recently, and Walker was the Giants’ selection.

In 2024 he stepped into the closer role for the first time after Doval ran into performance issues. At one point, the All-Star closer was sent down to Triple-A Sacramento work on his control. Walker pounced on the opportunity, He went 10-4 with a 1.91 ERA in 80 innings, with 10 saves. He struck out 99 and walked 18. Doval was set to return in 2025, so the Giants felt covered for the ninth inning.

Last season, the script slowly flipped. Walker got save chances early — he had five saves in the season’s first month. But a blown save on April 20 gave Doval a bit of an opening. Even though Walker had 10 of his 17 saves by the end of May, Doval resumed the primary closer duties in June and Walked joined Rodríguez in a set-up role.

After trading Doval, the Giants turned to Rodríguez, at that point an All-Star, at closer. But his elbow injury ended his season and cleared the path for Walker to move back into the role. From Aug. 24 to the end of the season, he had seven saves in nine chances.

The most troubling part of last season for Walker was his ERA. The right-handed had a career-worst 4.12 ERA. In 2024 his sinker-slider combo was dominant, per Baseball Savant. His xERA (2.63), his xBA (.193), his strikeout rate (32.1%) and his hard-hit rate (30.2%) were all in the 90th percentile or better. In 2025, those numbers plummeted, except for the hard-hit rate (35.6%) which was 86th percentile.

His Baseball Savant page indicates he induced more break with his pitches in 2024 than in 2025. If he can reclaim that pitch shape next season, a bounce back is possible for Walker.