SAN FRANCISCO --Ryan Walker was a revelation for the Giants in 2024. But his ‘25 campaign proved to be far more turbulent than expected.
The 30-year-old right-hander entered the season as San Francisco’s closer, a role he ascended to amid Camilo Doval’s struggles the previous year. But the two ended up flip-flopping in 2025, with Doval reclaiming ninth-inning duties in May following a rough start from Walker.
Walker got another shot at closing after Doval was shipped to the Yankees at the Trade Deadline and Randy Rodríguez underwent season-ending Tommy John surgery in September. Even so, consistency on the mound remained elusive. He finished the year with a career-high 4.11 ERA over 68 outings and seven blown saves, a significant dip from 2024, when he logged a stellar 1.91 ERA over 76 appearances (one start).
“I think Walk was up and down,” general manager Zack Minasian said at the Winter Meetings earlier this month. “I think he showed some flashes of dominance. I think there were times that he struggled. He’s still a relatively young pitcher in terms of service time. I think it's really important for those players to go through that and realize they can come out on the other end.
“A lot of times you see this with bullpen arms. They can get on a roll, they get used a lot and then you see maybe a little bit of downturn the next year. Then they don't get used as much, and then you see a little bit of upturn the following year. So you can see a little bit of that yo-yo of performance.”
Despite the down year, the Giants remain confident that Walker will be able to bounce back and re-establish himself as a trusted back-end reliever in 2026.
“He's somebody right now we're counting on,” Minasian said. “He's one of our more proven arms, so hopefully it was a valuable experience for him to kind of go through that and realize he is a very good Major League bullpen arm, because we need him.”
San Francisco bolstered its relief depth by signing Sam Hentges and Jason Foley to one-year deals and claiming Reiver Sanmartin off waivers from the Reds, but the back end of the bullpen remains a work in progress.
Walker has the most closing experience on the roster and will be counted on to lead a group that features some intriguing young arms like lefty Erik Miller, flamethrower Joel Peguero and right-hander José Buttó. Still, the Giants seem likely to explore bringing in other ninth-inning options this offseason, especially now that Rodríguez is likely to spend the entire upcoming season rehabbing his surgically-repaired right elbow.
Several free-agent closers -- including Edwin Díaz, Devin Williams, Robert Suarez, Raisel Iglesias and Kyle Finnegan -- have already come off the board, but the Giants could target other leverage arms such as Michael Kopech or Seranthony Domínguez.
“It’s something we’re looking at and know that we need to do our best to improve,” said president of baseball operations Buster Posey. “Losing Randy hurts big time. But we’re confident we can put it together and have guys down there that can probably pitch in different spots. I think every team would love a lockdown closer, but those are hard to come by.”