12:38 p.m.: Hicks can also earn an additional $2 million in annual incentives based on innings pitched. Reports Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. These incentives start at the 100 inning mark, She adds.
11:59 a.m.: The Giants have agreed to a four-year, $44 million contract with the free-agent right-hander Jordan Hicks, Reports ESPN's Jeff Passan. Passan added that the Giants plan to use Hicks as a starter rather than a backup. Hicks is represented by Ballengee Group.
A move back into the rotation is surprising, but it won't be an entirely unfamiliar role for the flame-throwing 27-year-old. Hicks worked as a starter in the minors before debuting in the Cardinals' bullpen during the 2018 season, and St. Louis briefly experimented with a move back into the rotation at the start of the 2022 season. That didn't work out — he scored 16 runs in 24 2/3 innings before moving back to the relief role — but the Giants will look to maximize Hicks' explosive arsenal out of their own rotation. The Giants have actually shown a knack for helping pitchers break through – Kevin Gausman Chief among them – and Hicks clearly has what it takes to intrigue clubs in a bigger role.
Few pitchers can match Hicks for speed. To this point in his career, he has achieved an average speed of 100.8 miles per hour in his four-seater, an average speed of 100.2 miles per hour in his two-seater, and the top speed is a comical 105 miles per hour. The former third-round pick combines that blistering speed with a slider that tops out at 86.5 mph, and he has very occasionally hit “switch-up throws” in the past (never higher than a 4 percent clip) – overall he reached a speed of 91.8 miles per hour on this field.
As you would expect from a pitcher with this superhuman speed, durability was an issue. Hicks never pitched more than 105 innings between the major leagues and minor leagues combined in any season of his career. He underwent Tommy John surgery in 2019, endured a 60-day IL stint in 2021 due to inflammation in the same elbow, and missed more than a month of the 2022 season with a flexor muscle strain. Hicks returned from that injury in early July and was placed back on the injured list in mid-September due to arm fatigue.
Of course, when he's healthy and at his best, Hiccup can be completely overpowering. He has a career 3.85 ERA, but that is distorted by 10 ugly innings before his UCL tear in 2019 and his hard work as a starter in 2022. In 2023, Hicks posted a 3.29 ERA with a strikeout rate of 28.4%, 11.2%. Walk rate and a groundball rate of 58.3% in 65 1/3 innings between the Cardinals and Blue Jays, who acquired him from St. Louis at the trade deadline in exchange for minor league pitchers Adam Kloffenstein And Sem Robberse. This ground ball rate is nothing new; Hicks has a sensational 60.4% grounder rate in his career. Unfortunately, the command problems of last year are not new either. He has given a free pass to an unsightly 12.8% of his opponents in the majors.
Given last year's innings count — and the total of 66 1/3 and 13 frames in the previous two seasons — it's hard to imagine Hicks simply jumping into a rotation and making more than 30 starts, even if he's capable , to stay in good health. The Giants expect to impose some sort of innings limit on him in 2024, whether that means limiting him to five innings per start, using him as a piggyback with another starter, or simply giving him occasional stints in the bullpen, um to keep his arm fresh.
An ideal setting could be for Hicks to move to the bullpen toward the end of the season, just like the recent trader acquisition Robbie Ray is coming back from Tommy John surgery, although a lot has to happen before that's a legitimate consideration. If Hicks can both stay healthy and play effectively as a starter next season, the team could give him a larger workload starting in 2025. At this point, Hiccup and Ray are inserted into the rotation behind Ace Logan Webb could give San Francisco an impressive trio. That's a big if, but the positive side is fascinating.
For now, Hicks will add another question mark to a rotation rife with uncertainty over Webb, a 2023 Cy Young Award finalist. Webb led the majors last year with 216 innings pitched, but Alex Cobb And Sean Manaea were the only other Giants pitchers to ever reach 100 innings. Manaea has since signed with the Mets in free agency and Cobb will open the 2024 season on the injured list while he recovers from hip surgery.
Hicks joins the experienced swingman Ross StriplingTop view Kyle Harrison and young rights Keaton Winn And Tristan Beck as candidates to fill out the rotation behind Webb. The 25-year-old righty Kai Wei Teng, who beat nearly 14% of his opponents in Triple-A last year, is the only other starter on the 40-man roster. Top view Carson Whisenhunt is certainly viewed as a potential rotation piece by the Giants, but he has only pitched 19 2/3 innings above A ball and will most likely not be an option until the 2025 season.
There's more to come.