SAN FRANCISCO -- The scene that best captured Camilo Doval’s personality took place in the visiting dugout at Petco Park last month.
After Doval nonchalantly worked out of a no-out, bases-loaded jam against the Padres in the fifth inning, Giants assistant pitching coach J.P. Martinez walked over to check Doval’s pulse, a playful nod to the 24-year-old rookie reliever’s remarkable ability to maintain a slow heartbeat even in the most high-pressure situations.
“I have never seen him excited or angry,” Martinez said. “He’s always the same guy. Always super chill, always very laid back. Always seemingly unaffected by what’s going on. So yeah, the pulse was good.”
Needless to say, the stuff has been good, too. Despite never pitching above A-ball prior to this season, Doval emerged as the Giants’ most electric bullpen arm down the stretch, firing 16 1/3 scoreless innings with 24 strikeouts over his last 16 appearances en route to earning National League Reliever of the Month honors for September.
With a blazing fastball that has topped out at 102.5 mph and a wipeout slider, Doval profiles as the Giants’ closer of the future, though it’s possible that he could be trusted to pitch the ninth inning in this postseason. Doval has already begun to show that he can handle the role, as he converted his first three career saves over the final week of the regular season while filling in for the injured Jake McGee.
McGee, 35, logged a 2.72 ERA with a career-high 31 saves over 62 appearances for the Giants before suffering a right oblique strain last month. McGee returned from the injured list on Saturday, though he didn’t see game action over the final weekend of the regular season and instead threw a batting practice session at Oracle Park on Tuesday.
It remains to be seen if the Giants will lean on the more experienced McGee to serve as their playoff closer or hand over the reins to Doval, but it’s clear the latter will be expected to pitch big innings. Doval, a native of Yamasá, Dominican Republic, is already drawing comparisons to six-time All-Star Francisco Rodríguez, who burst onto the scene as a 20-year-old rookie during the Angels’ run to the World Series in 2002.
“I would feel comfortable having Camilo pitch in any situation right now,” manager Gabe Kapler said.
Doval got his first taste of the big leagues when he was called up in April, though he encountered several bumps in the road early on, logging a 7.59 ERA over his first 13 appearances. At the beginning of the season, he struggled with his fastball command and made too many mistakes with his slider, surrendering four homers over 10 2/3 innings before being demoted to Triple-A Sacramento, where he continued to refine his craft for most of the summer.
“I worked really hard,” Doval said in Spanish. “I focused on what I wanted to do. I worked really hard on my fastball. I didn’t have the command of it that I have now. Now I can command it well and throw it for strikes.”
Doval’s growth was apparent to the Giants, who added him back to their bullpen mix for good in September.
“I think the first time he came up, he was pretty confident,” Martinez said. “I think the strike-throwing wasn’t really where we needed it to be. I don’t think it was where he thought it needed to be, either. And then some pitches in the zone got punished. To his credit, he didn’t really get knocked down, but he got knocked around a little bit. He went down to Triple-A and did what he needed to do. He cleaned up his time to the plate. He cleaned up his line to the plate. A lot more strikes. Really good mix between the slider and the fastball and throwing them both in the parts of the zone where they need to be. And then he kept that same kind of chill demeanor.”
As impressive as Doval’s stuff has been, his ability to remain unfazed by any situation has equally stood out to the Giants in recent weeks. Despite his relative inexperience, Doval is confident that he’ll be able to keep his cool even as he prepares to take the mound in the postseason for the first time in his young career.
“Every time that I take the field, I leave it in God’s hands,” Doval said. “I stay focused on what I need to do. When I come in, I treat it like I’m throwing live BP. Everything stays the same. Thank God, everything works out well for me. I stay calm, as if nothing big is happening.”