StockWatch: Hunter Strickland

StockWatch: Hunter Strickland

Giants manager Bruce Bochy named Hunter Strickland his fill-in closer with Mark Melancon hitting the DL with a sore elbow. He got the save in the opener.

This could easily become a permanent gig for Strickland as Melancon is having a relapse of the symptoms that cut short his 2017 season and could become an injury that requires another surgery after he went under the knife last September.

Strickland has the skill set to succeed in a big way, especially getting to pitch half his games in San Francisco. We have bumped up Strickland’s projections to 17 saves with a 2.90 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, 3 W, 58 K in 61 IP, rising to No. 29 in our relief pitcher rankings.

We knocked Melancon down to a 15-save projection and No. 32, Sam Dyson down to 8 saves and No. 39, and Tony Watson up to 6 saves and No. 44.