San Francisco Giants Pitcher Surprisingly Picked to Win Major NL Award

The San Francisco Giants have placed their hopes for a high level starting rotation in the hands of two veteran pitchers.

Over the offseason, new executive Buster Posey landed a big fish in the free agency pond when he agreed to terms on a one-year deal with Justin Verlander.

Verlander, the oldest active player in the four major sports, joined a fellow veteran and former Cy Young award winner in the rotation in Robbie Ray.

Ray, a talented southpaw with a knack for racking up strikeouts, has made just eight starts in the last two seasons combined, but he looks good and healthy so far in 2025.

After a successful spring training, Ray shined in his first start of the regular season on Sunday. The vet took a no-hitter into the sixth inning of his start against the Cincinnati Reds, but he ran into trouble before failing to make it out of the sixth.

If Ray can build upon his outstanding work through five on Sunday and keep that form running throughout the year, he has a chance to add another honor to his trophy case.

In an article for Bleacher Report laying out a bold prediction for each of the 30 MLB teams, Joel Reuter landed on Ray winning NL Comeback Player of the Year as his guess for San Francisco.

"Ray is not that far removed from winning 2021 AL Cy Young honors with the Blue Jays," Reuter wrote. "While his recovery from Tommy John surgery has limited him to eight starts the last two years, he returned with a 4.70 ERA and 43 strikeouts in 30.2 innings down the stretch last year. The 33-year-old could end up being a rock solid No. 2 starter behind Logan Webb in the Giants rotation."

There is recent precedent for a talented left-handed starter earning the award after battling back from multiple injury-riddled years.

Last year for the Atlanta Braves, Chris Sale swept both the Comeback Player of the Year and the Cy Young awards due to his phenomenal campaign. Sale missed the majority of four seasons with serious injuries, including Tommy John surgery.

Ray repeating that feat exactly would be rather shocking, but he will have a great case for the former honor if he can regain the level he showed previously.

Ray is one of the true strikeout artists in all of pitching, racking up 248 strikeouts in 2021 and 212 in 2022.

If he can approach the 200 mark for the Giants in 2025, he'll have provided a much-needed swing-and-miss element to a team in desperate need of it, and he'll likely have helped lead a struggling franchise back to postseason contention.

It would certainly be quite a comeback.

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