Should San Francisco Giants Give Closer Back to Red-Hot Former All-Star?

The San Francisco Giants moved a former All-Star out of the closing role this season, but he may have done enough to get that job back.

Apr 23, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants pitcher Camilo Doval (75) throws against the Milwaukee Brewers in the ninth inning at Oracle Park. | Eakin Howard-Imagn Images

The San Francisco Giants made a sensible move last season to take their closer out of that role, but could make a return now that he looks back to form.

Camilo Doval should be officially reinstated as their team's closer after dominating his stint as a setup man. He is already getting closing opportunities again, but he has earned the title again.

Doval looked like a shell of his former self last season. He started his career off on a great foot with a 2.73 ERA in two years as a closer.

Things got so bad in 2024 that he was actually optioned down to Triple-A for a stint to reset things.

He ended the campaign with a 4.88 ERA. The Giants lost 13 games in which he pitched and he was made the set-up man.

The 27-year-old has made some slight tweaks to his approach this offseason and looks much better off for it.

Through 13 innings of work, he has a 2.08 ERA with a WHIP of just 0.846. For reference, his WHIP was almost double that at 1.576 during his last campaign.

Doval isn't striking many batters out, but his control looks fantastic. He has a career-best Location+ of 104, the first time that he is above league-average.

That has led to fewer walks and almost half as many hits allowed on average. He has given up just six hits in 13 innings.

One big change in his results from last year is that batters have not been able to barrel him up even more.

Manager Bob Melvin at least trusts him to close out some games as he picked up three straight saves in the recent series against the Milwaukee Brewers.

Ryan Walker, the guy that replaced Doval as the closer, is now struggling. Rather than alternating outings, it could be the smarter move to just move Walker to the set-up role instead.

The 28-year-old came out of nowhere last year to post a 1.91 ERA and 0.850 WHIP in 80 innings of work. The decision to make him the closer made sense.

He has not been nearly as effective this season with a 5.91 ERA and a WHIP of 1.313. Batters are hitting him better and aren't chasing his pitches nearly as much.

This isn't to say that he won't be a valuable player down the stretch. His struggles are coming at a good time as the team as a whole is still red-hot.

For now, moving Walker to the setup role and giving Doval his closing job back seems like the right thing to do.