The San Francisco Giants sent closer and former All-Star Camilo Doval to Triple-A Sacramento on Friday.
Doval has had a tough season, showing a career-worst 4.70 ERA in his 46 games for San Francisco. Giants manager Bob Melvin said, “When you’re a guy like him, you don’t expect to hear that, so he’s processing it right now and hopefully he takes it the right way and gets back here and does the role that he’s done in the past very successfully.”
The team has not yet chosen a new closer. “It’ll be the guy we feel like has the best opportunity to do it without throwing everything else into disarray,” Melvin said.
Doval (4-1, 22 saves) has struggled this year compared to his past performances. He had over 60 innings with a sub-3.00 ERA and more than 25 saves in each of the last two seasons, leading the National League with 39 saves last year.
This year, despite having 22 saves in 27 chances, Doval has given up 42 hits and 25 runs—23 of them earned—while striking out 56.
The decision came after Doval allowed a tying three-run homer in the ninth inning against the Nationals, though the Giants won the game in the 10th.
Doval has had trouble with his fastball control, walking 29 batters this season compared to 26 last year and 30 in 2022. His slider and breaking ball have also been inconsistent, affecting his ability to find the strike zone. The Giants need more reliability with only two games out of a National League wild-card spot.
Melvin said, “Could we have put him in a lesser role? I don’t know that it would help. I think that some of the issues that he needs to work on would be easier to do somewhere else than the big leagues. He’s an All-Star. We expect him to come back and be an All-Star.”
To fill Doval’s spot, the Giants promoted right-hander Landen Roupp to their 40-man roster.
