'Grinding, earning it': Hicks building stamina for second season as starter

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Jordan Hicks felt the fatigue start to creep in earlier than he’d like to admit last year.

Hicks came out of the gate strong after the Giants gave him a chance to become a full-time starter for the first time in his career, logging a 2.70 ERA over his first 12 starts of the season. By May or June, though, the converted reliever began to feel the effects of the heavier workload. With his body taxed, Hicks struggled to a 6.37 ERA over his next eight starts, prompting the Giants to move him back to the bullpen in the second half.

Despite the up-and-down year, Hicks is expected to get another chance to stick in the Giants’ rotation in 2025, the second year of the four-year, $44 million deal he signed last offseason. He spent the entire winter in San Francisco, where he worked out at Oracle Park and focused on adding 15 pounds of muscle to boost his stamina and help him withstand another possible jump in innings this year.

“I think I’m just built for a better season and feeling stronger further into the season,” Hicks said. “I feel stronger. I have a better base. My legs feel strong. It feels easier to hit the higher velocities. I’d say that’s one of the bigger changes. I feel good mentally. I think I’m in a good spot with challenging hitters. I just want to be in the zone with all my stuff. That’s my main focus.”

Hicks hopes his bulked-up frame will also help him maintain his high-octane velocity deeper into games in his second season as a starter. The flamethrowing right-hander dialed back his heater to try to pace himself last year, with his average sinker velocity dropping from 100.1 mph in 2023 to 94.5 mph in ‘24, but he said he now wants to let it eat as long as he can in ‘25.

“I want to be more volatile on the mound,” Hicks said. “I want to be less guiding everything in there and more just letting everything come out naturally and being nasty in the zone with velocity. Because that’s where I'm at my best. If I can be in that 96-100 [mph] range with my action for 100 pitches for five innings on an average day -- and if that looks like seven or eight [innings] on a good day -- then I’m good with that.

“I’m just going to go out there and try to be nasty.”

Hicks put that plan into motion on Wednesday, when he struck out three over 1 1/3 scoreless innings in his Cactus League debut against the Cubs at Scottsdale Stadium. The 28-year-old touched 100 mph in the top of the first and managed to work out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam by coaxing a flyout from Miguel Amaya and then striking out Gage Workman and Vidal Bruján to end the inning.

Hicks needed 30 pitches to get through the stressful frame, but he returned to the mound to face one more batter, Travis Jankowski, in the second. His first pitch to Jankowski came in at 96 mph, but he ran it up to 98 to strike out the Cubs’ left fielder looking on his 36th and final pitch of the afternoon. The game ended with a 4-4 tie.

“I felt good there,” Hicks said afterward. “I feel like I can go a lot of innings at that intensity. If I slowly dwindle, then I think 94 [mph] plays, as we saw last year.”

“He’s pretty strong right now,” manager Bob Melvin said. “I think last year he learned a lot of lessons on how to go about this. There are some unknowns when you first do it. The first two months were really good. Then he just wore down. I think he’s done a lot of things this winter. He’s living in San Francisco now. He was at the ballpark all year with the strength and conditioning team and the training staff. I think he’s doing all the right things to get not only physically ready for it, but also his mind ready for it.”

Hicks said he doesn’t have specific workload goals in mind, but he hopes to build on the career-high 109 2/3 innings he threw last year and show that he has the durability to stay in the rotation for the entire season.

“My mindset is I’m still out here trying to earn a job, earn a role, in the rotation,” Hicks said. “I’ve always had that mindset. I’d rather not get away from it. It’s worked for me in the past. I think that’s how you get the best out of yourself, know that you’re earning a job and it’s not just given to you. I’m still out here, grinding, earning it and having fun.”