Article: Jordan Hicks Must Be Relegated To Low-Leverage Duty For Now

[Alex Mayes]

The trade of Rafael Devers in June brought flamethrower Jordan Hicks to Boston. Hicks is on the fourth team in his career after debuting with the Cardinals in 2018. Hicks has always showcased a tantalizing power sinker that should put him among the great relievers of the game. As we all know by now, that’s been far from the case with him. There was some thought that Hicks was brought in as an option to close games if Aroldis Chapman was traded at the deadline or as a direct replacement for him in 2026, but those thoughts should be far from anyone’s mind given his current performance in Boston. That being said, he’s under contract until the end of 2027 so there has to be something that Andrew Bailey and company think they can take advantage of in his arsenal.

On the season, Hicks is sporting a 6.42 ERA over 27 games, nine of those being starts with the Giants, and two saves. He’s hit seven batters on the season to boot. If we narrow the season down just to his time in Boston, we end up with an ERA of 6.23 and both of his saves.  He’s given up 12 runs with nine of those being earned, walked eight, and struck out 11. He has a four-pitch mix that is led by his electric sinker, a sweeper, four-seam fastball, slider, and a splitter.

He’s reportedly considering eliminating his sweeper altogether though, which could help him settle and lean on pitches that he trusts more. Opponents are hitting .265 against the sweeper and have a .490 slugging percentage, so it stands to reason that ditching it from his pitch mix could make for a simpler, more effective arsenal. He feels like his slider sits more like his fastball for a longer time (i.e., he's able to tunnel the pitch better), thus resulting in more whiffs on the pitch.

The biggest issue Hicks has, though, is his command. He can ramp up and throw gas, but he rarely seems to have any idea of where it’s going. We see this in Chapman a bit as well, but Chapman has learned to keep the ball mostly around the plate even when he’s pushing 100+ mph. Hicks, on the other hand, seems to step on the mound and just let the ball fly with little regard for where it actually lands around the plate. He tends to live on the outside and lower edges of the zone, but when he misses, it’s typically over the heart of the plate. That would likely explain why his home runs per nine innings is sitting at 1.38 and his hard-hit rate is hovering right at 39.5% with the Red Sox. For a playoff team, it’s hard to watch someone with such great velocity come in and give up run after run.

Jordan Hicks is sticking around Boston for a couple of more years, barring a trade (or release) over the offseason. It stands to reason that there’s something to be unlocked there—he was great with the Cardinals until he got traded to Toronto—but he’s already on incredibly thin ice with the fan base.

More meltdowns like we’ve seen since he was activated off the injured list will have fans salivating for guys like Justin Slaten to return to the bullpen to give everyone a reprieve from Hicks. He’s out of minor league options, so the team doesn’t have a ton of flexibility when it comes to what to do with him, besides using him exclusively in low-leverage situations. With his stuff, you'd want to see him used in literally any other role, but he’s going to have to prove he can be trusted before Alex Cora turns to him when it counts.   

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[moonslav59]

If he wasn't out of options, I'd have him at Woo.