Giants make difficult decision to option Doval to Triple-A

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Giants demoted Camilo Doval from more than just the closer role on Friday.

Doval lost his spot on the 26-man roster after the Giants decided to option him to Triple-A Sacramento prior to their 3-2 walk-off win over the Tigers at Oracle Park, a stunning turn of events for a hard-throwing reliever who earned his first career All-Star nod last year.

Doval assumed ninth-inning duties by the end of his rookie season in 2021 and led the National League with 39 saves in 2023, but he struggled to sustain the same level of dominance this year.

The 27-year-old Dominican logged a 4.70 ERA over 46 appearances and converted 22 of his 27 save opportunities, but he had a 6.43 ERA in seven outings since the All-Star break and surrendered a game-tying, three-run homer to Luis García Jr. in the bottom of the ninth inning of the Giants’ 9-5 win over the Nationals in 10 innings on Thursday.

The Giants could have moved Doval into a lower-leverage role, but manager Bob Melvin said the club preferred to have him work through his issues away from the big league spotlight. Melvin said the Giants want Doval to improve his command -- he’s averaging 5.9 walks per nine innings this year, the highest mark of his four-year career -- as well as being quicker to the plate.

“He’s an All-Star. We expect him to come back and be an All-Star,” Melvin said. “But the strike-throwing is an issue right now; times to the plate. He can be better than he is right now, and I think he’ll be better served to be able to work on it somewhere where it’s not at the big league level in a different role.”

Melvin called Doval into his office on Friday to deliver the news and said he was understandably disappointed to learn he’d be heading back to the Minors for the first time since September 2021.

“He was sad,” Melvin said. “I don’t blame him. It’s going to take a while to process, too. If you’re a guy like him, you don’t expect to hear that. He’s processing it right now. Hopefully he takes it the right way and gets back here and does the role that he’s done in the past very successfully.”

Melvin said he hopes Doval will be back after his requisite 15 days are up in the Minors, but for now, the Giants will lean on Ryan Walker to handle closing duties. Walker, 28, has one career save in the Majors, but he’s emerged as the club’s best reliever this season, logging a 2.24 ERA over an MLB-high 59 appearances.

“Walk certainly deserves it,” Melvin said. “He’s been really good. We don’t want to get Tyler [Rogers] out of the eighth. He’s been so good in the eighth, too. … Our bullpen has been really good at times at the back end. You don’t want to throw it into flux and everybody’s in different roles. The hard part is that [Walker] has been that fireman who comes in with guys on base all the time and a lot of times pitches out of a jam and then the next inning as well. But he gets lefties out. He gets righties out. He’s got swing-and-miss stuff.”

The Giants recalled Landen Roupp from Sacramento to take Doval’s spot in the bullpen and also reinstated catcher Curt Casali from the paternity list on Friday. Jakson Reetz was optioned to Sacramento in another corresponding move.