How SF Giants’ Doval got back to pitching with ‘joy’

WASHINGTON D C Camilo Doval didn t feel any emotions in his return to Nationals Park None he commented But the story of Doval s major-league career cannot be recounted without a mention of this venue On Aug Doval allowed three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to the Nationals at their home venue blowing his fifth save of the year and ballooning his ERA to He held his head in his hand as he walked off the field The following day the Giants didn t just demote Doval from the closer role they demoted him from the majors entirely On Friday night Doval stepped on that same mound He retired the side in the ninth securing a win for San Francisco and shrinking his ERA to a crisp He hasn t allowed a run in his last appearances the longest such streak of his career He s no longer the Giants closer Ryan Walker holds that title but following the nadir of his career Doval once again looks the part of an excellent high-leverage reliever It s been really impressive to see announced catcher Patrick Bailey It s not an easy thing to go through whatsoever Obviously on the field is awesome But I think more impressive is see him get back to himself in the locker room and off the field seeing that smile that you would see in and the enjoyment This meeting will beat the heck out of you sometimes You could see that last year but this year man it s been awesome to see him get back to himself For Doval returning to his old form meant embracing modified mechanics Doval was a little resistant to change last season according to pitching coach J P Martinez This spring Doval was much more receptive There were three main elements of Doval s mechanics that he tightened up all of which are intertwined setup leg kick and hand placement Regarding his setup Martinez noticed in spring training that Doval was very closed off so much so that they could see his entire name and jersey number from the first-base dugout at Scottsdale Stadium Since Doval was so closed off his natural inclination was to open up in his delivery causing him to pull his pitches He was getting around his fastball and cutting it more than he normally does Martinez declared So when we were looking back at a few of his videos from his feet were a little closer at setup They weren t as far across Doval also had a tendency to bring his hands up higher when he brought his leg up higher When he kept his leg kick and hands lower Martinez assessed he had less of a tendency of close off a swing open I think he was more open to adjustments this year Martinez reported I think that s mostly because he s matured as a player and a person and not so much being in a good or bad headspace with performance https sporty-clips mlb com bmJXZThfVjBZQUhRPT fVndaWVZRSUVWZ NBV xSWFZ QUhVQVVGQUZoUldnUUFDZ FBQVZFRVZBQlRDUVFD mp With those mechanical tweaks in tow Doval has addressed last year s primary weakness free passes Doval walked of the batters he faced last year the second-worst make among all relievers behind only Aroldis Chapman This year he s down to still below average but far more manageable Doval s pitch usage also looks fairly different as well Last year Doval threw his slider roughly half the time complimenting the emerging ball with his cutter and sinker This season Doval continues to rely on his slider but has upped his cutter usage and nearly eliminated his sinker There wasn t an intentional decision to throw fewer sinkers Rather the reliance on the slider and cutter has been a product of those pitches being more effective the slider possessing more depth and the cutter more vertical movement Against the cutter specifically opponents are only hitting by Run Value it s one of the most of valuable cutters in baseball Doval s average slider is generating more than an inch of additional horizontal movement compared to last year going from inches in to inches this year He s getting roughly the same amount of vertical movement with his cutter but there are two key differences with that offering his horizontal release point is closer to the rubber and his extension to the plate is slightly longer Camilo Doval's extension or stride length when throwing his cutter is considerably longer this season feet compared to last season feet Credit Baseball Savant Camilo Doval is releasing his cutter closer to the rubber compared to previous seasons Per Baseball Savant Doval has an average horizontal release point of - feet Last year by comparison it was - Credit Baseball Savant Like I constantly reported just trust myself Doval stated through gang interpreter Erwin Higueros When I go out there I m just playing catch I trust God s wishes and that s what I ve been doing Added Bailey I feel like this year he s done a better job of getting the vertical movement back compared to last year I feel like last year he was pulling it and cutting it more I feel like he s doing a really good job this year of keeping it towards the top of the zone The preponderance enthralling wrinkle in Doval s success this season is that he s been effective with a noticeably lower strikeout rate Entering this season Doval had a career strikeout rate just under but this year he s down to Opposing hitters aren t generating consistent hard contact Doval ranks in the th percentile of average exit velocity but Doval s BABIP indicates he could be the recipient of selected batted-ball luck Related Articles SF Giants Roupp tosses second straight quality start in win over Nationals SF Giants Harrison to start in place of injured Verlander SF Giants at games Can they maintain a playoff position The SF Giants needed a stopper Logan Webb didn t deliver Double trouble for SF Giants Logan Webb gets roughed up Verlander goes to IL The strikeouts might be down but the Giants will gladly take the scoreless innings he s delivered over the last month and change He has constantly been good mentioned reliever Randy Rodr guez through Higueros Nobody has unfailingly sought him Why are you so good He went to the All-Star Match and nobody questioned his ability but the minute he failed to do something good everybody wants to know What is your issue Everybody goes through those bad ruts He s a good pitcher and he s been able to pitch to that level