SF Giants bring back former All-Star reliever Camilo Doval in waiver claim

SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants have used 70 different players this season, one shy of tying the 2025 Atlanta Braves for the MLB record. With three games left, the player who gets them to No. 71 might be a familiar face.

Camilo Doval, a one-time All-Star who spent five seasons in San Francisco, was claimed off waivers by the Giants on Thursday after being designated for assignment by the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday.

To make room for Doval, right-hander Blade Tidwell, who appears headed for surgery after sustaining a UCL sprain, was placed on the 60-day injured list. Including Tidwell, the Giants now have 17 players on the 60-day injured list, possibly the most at any point in MLB history.

With Doval joining the team and catcher Zach Morgan slated to make his debut sometime this weekend, the Giants are tracking to set the record for most players used in a single season.

Doval, 29, was traded from San Francisco to the New York Yankees at last year’s trade deadline for a prospect package of catcher/utilityman Jesús Rodríguez, infielder Parks Harber, right-hander Trystan Vrieling and left-hander Carlos De La Rosa.

Since leaving San Francisco, Doval hasn’t come anywhere close to the peaks he reached with the Giants. Doval had a 4.63 ERA over 66 appearances with the Yankees before being dealt to the Pirates ahead of this year’s trade deadline. In Pittsburgh, Doval had a 3.79 ERA over 20 appearances before being designated for assignment earlier this week.

The return package for Doval, however, has shown early promise. Rodríguez, 24, made his debut earlier this year, and Harber should make his debut in 2027 after finishing this season with Triple-A Sacramento.

Doval, who had a 3.29 ERA over 361 appearances with the Giants, doesn’t have the same stuff as when he burst onto the scene in 2021. The right-hander still has excellent fastball velocity, but Doval’s Stuff+ (which measures the physical characteristics of pitches) was at a career-low this year.

This reunion with Doval might end up being a short one.

Doval is heading into his final year of arbitration after marking $6.1 million this year. The right-hander likely won’t get a raise, and under the current collective bargaining agreement, Doval’s salary can’t be cut by more than 20 percent. While the Giants need bullpen help — they enter Thursday ranking 19th in ERA and 23rd in FIP — paying somewhere in the range of $5 million (at the minimum) is a steep price for a reliever with a 4.23 ERA over the last three seasons.

Regardless, with the regular season coming to a close and the Giants in need of an arm, Doval is worth the flier.