Underrated San Francisco Giants Reliever Making Strong Case for Opening Day Roster

The San Francisco Giants have intriguing decisions to make when it comes to the bullpen, and one reliever is making a strong case to be there on Opening Day.

Sep 28, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants pitcher Spencer Bivens (76) reacts after recording his first MLB career save after the ninth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at Oracle Park. | Robert Edwards-Imagn Images

The San Francisco Giants have lots of decisions to make surrounding their pitching staff entering the 2025 season, and the bullpen is no exception. As of right now, it is somewhat unknown which players will be able to make the Opening Day roster as relievers, and who will be sent down to Triple-A or elsewhere for the beginning of the year.

One of the players who has been showing flashes of success this spring has been Spencer Bivens, who could end up being someone who is considered for a bullpen spot in the coming weeks. With not much solidifed as of yet for that group, he may have an opportunity to make the roster after playing 27 games last season.

So far during spring training, Bivens has produced a 3.27 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, .276 batting average allowed, and 13 strikeouts to only one walk. While his four runs allowed in 11 innings of work is marginally concerning, ultimately his strikeout numbers have been exceptional, and somewhat counteract the negative value of runs.

It seems like he has been someone the Giants are trying to get a look at, as he has received those 11 innings of playing time in only six appearances, as opposed to nine innings in seven appearances last spring. With that likely being the case, it will be interesting to see if he can continue to perform at a high level and earn himself a roster spot.

Bivens performed well in 2024 as well which will help his case, posting a 3.14 ERA, 1.192 WHIP, 37 strikeouts to 11 walks (3.36 SO/BB), and would even open two games out of the 27 he played, accruing 48.2 innings pitched in his MLB debut season.

His path to the major leagues has been all but normal too after not being selected in the 2019 MLB draft. He would start out with Lions de Savigny-sur-Orge in France, before moving around multiple independent leagues for a few seasons. His success there would lead to a minor-league contract with San Francisco in May of 2022, where interesgly enough he would not play in Double-A or High-A, but rather Single-A and Triple-A, skipping a few steps.

In 2023 he showed flashes of promise, and this led to multiple stints with the MLB roster in 2024, starting in June and ending in September.

He now has the chance to make the Opening Day roster, and if he is able to land with the current group of relievers in the bullpen, he may be able to prove what he can do at the MLB level once again.