Giants Boast Three All-Star Worthy Candidates in Their Bullpen

The San Francisco Giants have been said to lack superstars, but that might not be accurate when looking at their strong bullpen.

John Hefti-Imagn Images

The story of the San Francisco Giants has been a growing lineup of stars underperforming through the first third of the 2025 MLB season. 

Meanwhile, the team as a whole has overachieved in many ways, as the Giants didn’t enter the season with high expectations. 

Despite a harsh series sweep by the Detroit Tigers earlier this week, the Giants have maintained a competitive start, entering June above the .500 mark. 

They haven’t scored more than four runs in their last 11 games; that’s led to a 5-6 record. However, those five narrow victories reveal one of the team’s best strengths.

San Francisco has a stellar bullpen, and the dynamic trio of Camilo Doval, Randy Rodriguez, and Tyler Rogers have performed at All-Star caliber.

Giants Can Make Run With Top Relieving Trio

An MLB-high 42 games decided by three runs or fewer have tested the Giants. They’re 21-21 through those games — but not because of the bullpen. 

While San Francisco hasn’t been able to amass many leads as of late, they boast a 21-2 record when they lead after six innings thanks to clutch play by its relief staff.

The bullpen’s 2.48 ERA is the lowest in the MLB, and the trio of Doval, Rodriguez, and Rogers are perhaps the most consistent performers on the roster.

While relievers face a challenging task to be selected to the All-Star team, Alex Pavlovic from NBC Sports Bay Area maintains that Doval, Rodriguez, and Rogers represent "real candidates" in this group.

In 2023, Doval was the first Giants reliever to make the team since Sergio Romo in 2013. Given the roster requirements, including that each team must have at least one representative, it may be unfeasible to argue for that much representation for San Francisco.

However, they’ve been nothing short of difference-makers through the Giants' recent slump.

Rodriguez has a 0.73 ERA with 18 ERA- that is No. 3 in the league. In 24.2 innings pitched, he has only allowed two runs and one homer, with 36 strikeouts to three balls.

His 12.00 strikeout-to-walk ratio is the best among relievers in baseball, as he’s striking out 40% of batters and walking 3.3%.

Rogers carries a 1.78 ERA and leads the team with 26 appearances. He’s pitched 25.1 innings and has allowed five runs and two home runs with 24 strikeouts to 3 balls.

His 8.00 strikeout-to-walk ratio is No. 8 in baseball, and he is nearly striking out a batter per inning pitched at his best rate since 2020. 

Doval has been a strong anchor for the unit as he carries a 1.16 ERA and hasn’t allowed a run since April 7. He was just moved back into the closer role.

Doval has pitched 23.1 innings and has allowed six runs and zero homers, while recording 20 strikeouts to 8 walks. 

The key with Doval is improvement, as he’s nearly cut his walk rate (9.3%) in half from last season (14.4%). Hitters are batting .117 against him, the lowest in his career.

Without the bullpen San Francisco boasts, it’s tough to fathom they’d be anywhere near the success they’ve seen through the season.

Should the Giants put together a postseason run, they may very well look back on these three as the MVPs of that campaign.

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