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Giants Put Reliever Jordan Hicks On IL For Shoulder

MILWAUKEE — Robbie Ray wasn't the only San Francisco Giants pitcher to land on the injured list on Tuesday. Jordan Hicks, who overlapped briefly with Ray in the rotation before moving to the bullpen, is also out.

Hicks, placed on the 15-day IL with shoulder inflammation, felt zingers down his right arm Friday at Seattle and didn't enter the game after warming up; he pitched two-thirds of an inning Saturday, and his velocity was briefly down a tad before going back up near the end of his stint.

"It got to the point where we needed to get it right," manager Bob Melvin said.

Hicks, a reliever most of his career, started the season in the Giants' rotation and made 20 starts before returning to the bullpen a month ago. He mentioned fatigue a few times after starts in July, and Melvin said it's tough to say whether the unfamiliar workload this year factored in the shoulder issue.

"I really don't know, we'd give him a couple days off and he'd pitch an inning, and then he'd be off a couple days because he just wasn't responding," Melvin said. "Hopefully it's just some stiffness that he needs to get over and get out of there."

Hicks' ERA increased month to month in the different role: He was the team's best starter in April, with a 1.59 ERA in six starts, then it jumped to 3.99 in May, 5.24 in June and 8.40 in July. In seven appearances in August, all out of the bullpen, he had a 1.17 ERA and a save.

He's signed through 2027 and the plan is to have him return to the rotation next year.

With Hicks out, the Giants called up Austin Warren, who was signed last winter while rehabbing from Tommy John surgery. He's made 32 big-league appearances, all with the Angels, but hadn't worked in the majors since April 23, 2023.

"I feel very blessed to be back at the highest stage of the game," he said. "I've been feeling really good lately, recovering quickly."

Warren, 28, joined Triple-A Sacramento on June 5 and had a 4.88 ERA in 25 games, with 27 strikeouts in 24 innings. He hadn't allowed an earned run since July 26, allowing five hits in eight innings since, striking out 12 and walking none.

"I've been filling it up, striking quite a few guys out," he said. "We've got guys behind us that are doing their job, making plays, but it's all about throwing strikes. Putting free guys on is not the way to do it these days."

The Giants will be able to hang onto catcher Jakson Reetz, designated for assignment last week; he cleared waivers and was outrighted to Sacramento.

(c)2024 the San Francisco Chronicle

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Doctor Estimates Possible Return Timelines For Ray, Hicks Injuries

Doctor estimates possible return timelines for Ray, Hicks injuries originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The Giants' pitching staff took a major hit approaching the final month of the season, with Jordan Hicks and Robbie Ray each going on the 15-day IL on Tuesday.

Ray suffered a left hamstring strain, while Hicks is dealing with right shoulder inflammation.

September is almost here, so San Francisco needs its arms back as soon as possible to remain in the hunt for a wild-card spot.

NBC Sports Bay Area's Tristi Rodriguez spoke to Dr. Seth Sherman, a sports medicine surgeon at Stanford, to learn more about these injuries.

Starting with Ray, Sherman drew connections to his return from Tommy John surgery last May.

"Everything influences each other. I think what we see in this sport and others, as we have ramp-up periods, we get these spurts of hamstring-type injuries," Sherman said. "It's in those spikes of times when you return from injuries, and there's surgeries where you might be more vulnerable."

Though the Giants haven't provided much detail about the severity of Ray's injury, Sherman doesn't expect the former Cy Young Award winner to miss much time, particularly if it's a lower-grade strain.

"Obviously, we all try to err on the side of being cautious, making sure you're optimized so that we prevent that reoccurrence," Sherman detailed. "From the very limited info that we have, ideally, this is ... Not something longer and/or more variable."

As for Hicks, his IL stint comes shortly after having minor arm discomfort while warming up to enter Friday's game in Seattle. He admitted to feeling "zingers" down his right arm.

The starter-turned-reliever recovered enough to pitch 2/3 of an inning on Saturday, but he appears to have suffered a setback. Sherman provided some insight into what those "zingers" could entail.

"When you hear zinger, you sometimes think about nerves and things of that nature," Sherman explained. "But you can also have zingers from, let's say, irritation tendonitis in the front of the shoulder. So, not every zinger is the same.

"There wasn't one -- to my knowledge -- acute event. This is a lingering issue. That places it, without knowing much about it, more on the irritation/inflammation/tendonitis bucket, which is a more reassuring diagnosis."

Hicks, who began the season in the starting rotation, was moved to the bullpen last month after showing some signs of fatigue as the season progressed. At 108.1 innings in 2024, Hicks has easily surpassed his previous career-high workload at the MLB level.

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