San Francisco Giants reliever Derek Law received a pretty nice gift today for his 26th birthday: he gets to play professional baseball again.
After missing 15 games with a right elbow strain, the Giants reinstated the right-hander from the 15-day disabled list Wednesday morning.
Law, 26, has been one of the Giants’ most effective relievers in 2016, posting a 1.94 ERA in 51 innings pitched, the sixth lowest figure among National League relievers.
The rookie’s reinstatement comes at a time when the Giants appear to be without an answer at the closer position, off the heels of blowing another ninth inning lead in last night’s 6-4 loss to the Padres. It will be interesting to see if Law’s stellar performance this season will lead manager Bruce Bochy to trot the youngster out in late-game situations moving forward.
For now, Bochy says he wants to keep Law out of high stress situations as he works him back into the bullpen rotation.
“Just to see where he’s at,” Bochy said. “Where his stuff’s at, where his command is at and go from there.”
“That being said, it’s all hands on deck.”