How Jordan Hicks plans to prepare for his second season in SF Giants’ starting rotation

SAN FRANCISCO — In his previous life as a high-leverage reliever, Jordan Hicks conditioned himself for single-inning sprints. Looking ahead to next year, his second season in the Giants’ starting rotation, Hicks said he’s in need of a different kind of conditioning.

“I’ll be doing some long distance, probably a couple miles a day running,” he said of his plans for this offseason. “Just trying to get my legs to have more stamina and endurance.”

Hicks was placed on the 15-day injured list earlier this week with inflammation in his right shoulder but said his entire body was feeling the effects of his transition to the starting rotation and the largest workload of his career that accompanied it.

“I’ve just felt in general pretty bad,” he said. “My whole body, not just my arm.”

When he felt “zingers” in his right arm while warming up last weekend in Seattle, “that’s what scared me the most,” he said. When he entered their game the next night, his velocity was down in the 92-93 mph range, and Hicks said he “didn’t feel great.”

“I felt like I was trying hard and not getting a lot out of it,” he said. “It’s just a good time to go on (the IL), get some rest for the body, and come back and finish strong.”

When Hicks agreed to a four-year, $44 million commitment this past winter, part of the draw to San Francisco was the opportunity to start, and the plan remains for him to occupy a rotation spot again in 2025 with some combination of Logan Webb, Robbie Ray, Kyle Harrison, Keaton Winn and Hayden Birdsong. (Blake Snell is expected to opt out of his contract and become a free agent.)

At the time, Hicks was six years removed from his previous career-high in innings — 77⅔ as a rookie with the Cardinals in 2018 — and has zoomed past that total this season. In 28 games, he has logged 108⅓ innings, the majority coming in 20 starts before he was moved to the bullpen shortly after the All-Star break.

“All this was foreign territory for him,” manager Bob Melvin said. “So I think going through a season of it, I think he’ll be much better prepared for next year.”

Before landing on the IL, Hicks owned a 3.90 ERA, the second-highest of his career, while averaging 7.9 strikeouts per nine innings, the lowest rate of his career. That was a tradeoff he was willing to make — eschewing missed bats to pitch more efficiently — and paid off for the first month of the season.

Over his first six starts, Hicks went six or more innings three times with a 1.59 ERA. But he would only record one more out in the sixth inning over his remaining 14 starts, failing to complete five frames six times with a 5.29 ERA.

After moving to the bullpen, Hicks made eight appearances — none on back-to-back days.

“He’ll pitch a game and the next day (the shoulder) is a little stiff and not available,” Melvin said. “We’d give him a couple days off, and he’d pitch an inning, and we’d give him another couple days off, and it just wasn’t responding.”

It was around the start of May that Hicks first noted the fatigue was starting to set in — not in his arm but in his legs. That corresponded with a drop in velocity, his average fastball falling from 97.4 mph in his first start and 96.3 in five April starts to 94.7 mph in May and 93.9 in July before his move to the bullpen.

“I think I learned a lot from this go around,” he said. “It showed me how much it’s going to take. Not just the arm, it’s more lower body. Just total body load versus those short quick sprint bursts. … I’m almost 45 (innings) over (last year’s total). I think it’s normal to feel this way, in my eyes.”

A natural jump for next season would put Hicks right around 150 innings — more than any SF starter but Webb is on pace for this year — and while he said, “I’m not going to anticipate I go 170, 180 or 190 … I’m confident we’ll get further next year than we did this year.”

The offseason was half over when Hicks signed his contract with the Giants in January, and he’s hopeful a full winter of work can set him up better when he reports next February for his second spring training in Scottsdale.

“I just feel like I didn’t have the whole offseason to prepare for it,” he said. “Now that I know what it takes and I have a full offseason, I think I’ll be in the best shape I possibly can be.”