With newfound confidence, SF Giants’ Walker sets sights on closer role

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona — Call it confidence. Call it swagger. Call it aura. They’re all apt descriptions.

Ryan Walker has been open about his battles with confidence, but his growth in that department has been evident in his walk, his talk. His bullpen sessions reveal a pitcher who prioritized mentality as much as mechanics in the winter.

He’s not in Scottsdale hoping to be the closer, hoping to get the opportunity, hoping to prove he’s worth. He’s here to snatch the job, to plant his flag, to emerge again as one of the best relievers in baseball.

“Confidence is something that I’ve struggled with my whole career, and it’s about time I changed that. It’s about time I stopped that,” Walker said. “I’m trying to believe in myself. I’m believing in my abilities, and I’m coming in with that belief that I’m going to earn the role. I’m going to take that through the season.”

Walker’s third season in the majors was a whirlwind that can be broken into three chapters.

The cross-firing right-hander entered spring training as the Giants’ closer and began the year by converting his first five saves. Then, there was the blown save against the Los Angeles Angels on Easter Sunday. He allowed four runs and cost Justin Verlander his first win of the season, which he wouldn’t record until July. By the end of May, Walker was demoted in favor of Camilo Doval.

His struggles continued following the demotion, but he began to find his stride in low-to-medium leverage situations. All-Star Randy Rodríguez became the team’s closer after the Giants traded Doval, but Walker found himself closing games again after Rodríguez underwent Tommy John surgery.

Walker began his second closer stint with five straight scoreless appearances but had another brutal blown save as the Giants were clinging to their playoff hopes, allowing three runs to the St. Louis Cardinals and failing to record a single out. It broke a streak of 10 straight scoreless outings, and Walker was shaky the rest of the season.

First closer stint: 21 games, 19 innings, 5.21 ERA, 2.92 FIP, 20.5 K%, 8.4 BB%

Non-closer role: 33 games, 32 innings, 2.81 ERA, 3.20 FIP, 25.2 K%, 5.5 BB%

Second closer stint: 14 games, 10 1/3 innings, 6.10 ERA, 4.01 FIP, 19.6 K%, 7.1 BB%

“Looking back on it, it was hard while you’re in it to not think of it as the worst season,” said Walker, who had a 4.11 ERA last season over 61 1/3 innings with 17 saves. “You get in this bad headspace. But afterwards, looking back, it’s like, one, it wasn’t that bad, and two, I can learn a lot from this.”

What Walker learned was that he needed to control his mental game and understand what cues were necessary to stay consistent. In the offseason, Walker worked with Harvey Martin, the Giants’ mental skills coach from 2022-24. Walker also worked with former Giant Nick Ahmed, talking with the longtime shortstop over Zoom.

So far, Walker believes that work is paying dividends. He says he feels different, and his teammates are taking notice.

“I caught his first ‘pen and he just had a much more calming presence about him,” said two-time Gold Glove catcher Patrick Bailey. “In this game, everyone talks about how the mental part of it is so important. … We have a really good relationship and friendship, and I’ve kind of seen the ebbs and flows of that in him. You can see when he’s lost his confidence or when he’s searching a little bit.

“I noticed on Day 1, ‘Dude, you look like you believe in yourself.’ I would imagine he would say the same thing. Something I want to help as a friend and as a catcher is to help him continue to believe in that and believe in the success that he’s had.”

New pitching coach Justin Meccage wasn’t with the Giants last season but assessed that Walker “seems like he’s on a mission to get things right mentally.”

“Obviously, the stuff is the stuff,” Meccage said. “It’s unique and it’s special. I think it’s a mindset of him believing in, ‘I’m a unique pitcher that gives a unique look and there’s deception,’ and just selling out to that.”

While confidence was key for Walker, his mechanics also needed some fine-tuning. Walker felt that his tempo last year was off; his leg lift was slower than usual, and he tried to compensate at the end by exploding with his arm. As a result, his command suffered.

In 2023 and ‘24, Walker consistently executed his slider down and away to right-handed hitters around the margins of the zone. In ‘25, his slider caught a little more zone than his first two seasons.

This isn’t just apparent in his heat maps. By FanGraphs’ Location+ metric, Walker’s slider placement went from excellent in 2024 (105) to well below average in ‘25 (85).

Poorer location led to fewer strikeouts. In 2023 and ‘24, Walker had a fantastic strikeout rate of 31.0 percent. In ‘25, Walker’s strikeout rate plummeted to 22.6 percent, right around league average.

If Walker gets back to consistently locating his slider, his strikeout rate could return to being well above average. Meccage also noted that Walker has added a changeup, which can help him against left-handed hitters.

“That was definitely No. 1 on the list to get dialed in,” Walker said. “Getting down to the mechanics, last year, I started thinking a lot about, ‘Why isn’t it doing this? Why isn’t it doing that?’ Then, I started doing weird things with my hand trying to get it to spin more. It just didn’t work out. Once we nailed down the mechanics, the slider came along with it, the two-seam came along with it and everything became more natural.”

In all likelihood, Walker will be the Giants’ closer on Opening Day for a second straight year. Manager Tony Vitello has repeatedly said he favors competition, but Walker is the only healthy reliever on the 40-man roster with extensive experience as a closer, and he’s shown he can be dominant in that role.

Still, Walker is leaving nothing to chance. He’s found another echelon of confidence, and he’s intent on showcasing it this spring and beyond.

“I wouldn’t say more intentional — I’ve always been intentional – but I just have a different feel to me. A different aura, if you want to be new age — I’m too old for that,” Walker said. “That’s something I decided to change and work on a lot this offseason, and I think it’s going to make an impact.”