\n\n”,”providerName”:”Twitter”,”providerUrl”:”Pause for concern, Hicks had Tommy John surgery once in 2019 and it’s something unusual he can do. A tragic accident for a second operation. It’s something his new team can count on when he signs his new contract. Even with your typical pitcher’s threat, Hicks seems to have found the right combination of clean stuff and knowing how to pitch well. -hicks-deal-with-giants”,”contentType”:”news”,”subHeadline”:null,”summary”:”The Giants have agreed to terms with right-hander Jordan Hicks on a four-year, $44 million contract. A source told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand on Friday. The deal includes $2 million in annual performance bonuses based on innings pitched per source. Hicks is expected to join the San Francisco rotation after being deployed”,”tagline({\”formatString\”:\”none\”})”:null,”tags”:[{“__typename”:”InternalTag”,”slug”:”storytype-article”,”title”:”Article”,”type”:”article”},{“__typename”:”TeamTag”,”slug”:”teamid-137″,”title”:”San Francisco Giants”,”team”:{“__ref”:”Team:137″},”type”:”team”},{“__typename”:”PersonTag”,”slug”:”playerid-663855″,”title”:”Jordan Hicks”,”person”:{“__ref”:”Person:663855″},”type”:”player”},{“__typename”:”TaxonomyTag”,”slug”:”rumors”,”title”:”rumors”,”type”:”taxonomy”},{“__typename”:”TaxonomyTag”,”slug”:”apple-news”,”title”:”Apple News”,”type”:”taxonomy”},{“__typename”:”ContributorTag”,”slug”:”maria-guardado”,”title”:”Maria Guardado”,”type”:”contributor”},{“__typename”:”ContributorTag”,”slug”:”brent-maguire”,”title”:”Brent Maguire”,”type”:”contributor”}],”type”:”story”,”thumbnail”:”Hicks deals with Giants”}},”group:141″:{“__typename”:”group”,”id”:141},”person:663855″: {“__typename”:”person”,”id”:663855},”group:137″:{“__typename”:”group”,”id”:137}} window.adobeAnalytics = {“reportingSuiteId”:”mlbglobal08 , mlbcom08″,”linkInternalFilters”:”mlb”} window.globalState = {“tracking_title”:”Major League Baseball”,”lang”:”en”} window.appId = ” /*–>*/
January 12, 2024
The Giants have agreed to terms with right-hander Jordan Hicks on a four-year, $44 million contract, a source told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand on Friday. The deal includes $2 million in annual performance bonuses based on innings pitched per source. ESPN’s Jeff Pasan reports that Hicks is expected to join San Francisco’s rotation after spending most of his career as a reliever.
The club has not confirmed the deal, which includes $2 million in annual performance bonuses and is based on innings pitched.
Hicks is the second major pitching acquisition the Giants have made this offseason, joining left-hander Robbie Ray, who was acquired last week from markers Mitch Haniger and Anthony Desclafani.
With Ray (Tommy John surgery) and fellow veteran Alex Cobb (left hip surgery) expected to miss the start of the season with injuries, the Giants are looking to bring in other pitchers to join Logan Webb, Kyle Harrison, Keaton Wynn. , Ross Stripling and Tristan Beck as rotation options at the beginning of the year.
“We have to have at least two rotation positions where we have flexibility, whether it’s the young pitchers who are the options, or the guys who can move back and forth between the rotation and the bullpen,” said Farhan Zadi, president of baseball operations. He said last week. “It’s going to be critical for us to be flexible there so that we can get those people back to work. It doesn’t rule out adding a free agent starting pitcher who has been in the rotation since Opening Day and is a guy we want to start 30, but it does change the strategy a bit. It puts a premium on some flexibility.
In terms of the highlights, Hicks is definitely a very impressive option to bring into the mix. The 27-year-old is one of the hardest-throwing pitchers we’ve ever seen — he owns two of the fastest (105-plus mph) in the pitch-tracking era (since 2008). Even more exciting is that he is coming off his best season in the big leagues. After a brief tryout as a starter in some games in 2022, Hicks came out of the bullpen with 23 hits in 65 outings.
Hicks reached 50 innings for the third time in 2023. Through those three seasons, Hicks posted career bests in ERA (3.29), saved ERA (3.30), FIP (3.23), strikeout rate (28.4%) and whiff rate (28.2). %) For the first time in his career, Hicks was able to use something otherworldly to elude bats and is still showing his typically great groundball rate below 60%.
The biggest change the rightists have made is joining the ever-popular sweeper movement. With the new sweeper, Hicks now has a breaking ball that sits around 87 mph and breaks his leg in terms of horizontal break. Combined with a 100 mph sinker that moves nearly 16 inches the other way, Hicks has a nasty combination of two pitches moving in opposite directions. Hicks’ sweep produced a 59.5% whiff rate – the third highest among individual pitches with at least 50 swings.
If there’s any cause for concern, it’s the fact that Hicks underwent Tommy John surgery in 2019 and has the kind of abnormality that could make him a tragic risk for a second surgery. It’s something his new team can count on when he signs his new contract. Despite being your typical pitcher disaster, Hicks seems to know the right combination of things and how to get the best results with it.