After giving up eight runs in his last three outings, the Giants sent down reliever Derek Law and called up prospect Kyle Crick Tuesday morning.
While many found it surprising, the move did not faze Giants broadcaster Mike Krukow. In fact, he feels it was probably should’ve been done earlier.
“It’s not a surprise and I think it’s a little overdue to be honest,” he said Wednesday on KNBR’s The Murph and Mac Show.
“Derek Law has to be able to have knee-high control with his fastball and he didn’t. He made way too many mistakes belt-high and above, and he just doesn’t have the kind of velocity or movement to get away with it. You can see it in his face. He just lost his confidence. Now all of a sudden you lose confidence with the fastball because you don’t have command around the knees, and then everything else seems to melt. He tries to get people out with his secondary pitches – curveball, sliders, changeup – and completely shies away from the fastball.”
Law, who established himself towards the end of the 2016 season, looked poised to emerge as one the stronger bullpen arms for the Giants. However, lack of command led to a 5.40 ERA, where he allowed 40 hits over 30 innings pitched. In his last appearance, he gave up four runs, five hits and a walk without recording an out.
“He needs to go down to Triple-A and he needs to get some fastball confidence back,” Krukow added. “To do that, he needs to perfect his mechanics. He has the ability to throw knee-high strikes. There’s going to be a bit of a challenge, but look, it happens to everybody. When you come up it’s not easy. Basically you get exposed, you come back, and you work hard and cover up that exposure.”
Listen to the full podcast below. To hear more on Krukow and Law, skip to 7:17.