SF Giants’ Camilo Doval takes ‘huge’ step forward to become ‘complete closer’

NEW YORK — With his go-ahead homer in the eighth inning Friday night and picture-perfect throw to second base in the ninth, rookie catcher Patrick Bailey deservedly received the bulk of the attention from the Giants’ come-from-behind win over the Mets. But not to be overlooked: Camilo Doval’s transformation into a “complete” closer, to use the words of manager Gabe Kapler.

Tied for the major-league lead in saves, the 25-year-old fireballer has been arguably the best closer in baseball for the first half of this season. He already has one reliever of the month award under his belt, and he is widely seen as the Giants’ top All-Star candidate (rosters announced Sunday at 2:30 p.m. PT).

But, as coach Mark Hallberg pointed out Saturday, Doval’s three-pitch mix — a triple-digit heater, a sharp-breaking sinker and a wipeout slider — is so nasty, it left him a blindspot. In addition to his duties at third-base coach, Hallberg oversees Giants’ pitchers work controlling the running game, and ever since Doval was elevated into the closer’s role in the stretch run of the 2021 season, they have been hammering home the need to pay more attention to his base runners.

The caught stealing of Starling Marte for the second out of the ninth inning, erasing the tying run from the base paths, will go down in Bailey’s stat column. But it was a “huge bit of development for Camilo,” Kapler said afterward, heaping equal praise on his pitcher and catcher.

“I think he’s understanding that his stuff is so good, the way teams are probably going to try score on him is to take advantage of him at the margins,” Hallberg said. “So if he is super slow, they’re gonna steal second and then maybe a ball off the end of the bat or a little blooper becomes a run against him and our team.”

Marte, whose 21 steals rank third in the National League, entered as a pinch-runner, and everyone in the stadium understood that he would try to put himself in scoring position.

Quality assurance coach Nick Ortiz, who typically accompanies Kapler or pitching coach Andrew Bailey to translate for Doval, stood on the top step of the dugout and tried to communicate to him that he needed to be quick to the plate with Marte on base but to also make sure he came set, to avoid being called for a balk.

Doval saw him but didn’t hear him. He didn’t need to.

“Once I’m on the mound I do not hear anything or anybody,” Doval said through Spanish-language interpreter Erwin Higueros. “I know that Marte is a fast runner, so obviously I knew I had to be quick with my pitch and obviously I was. I knew that I needed to keep in mind that he represented an important run.”

Doval’s time to the plate was about 1.35 seconds, right in the sweet spot for a pitcher to give his catcher a chance and substantially quicker than his typical times, closer to 1.55-1.7 seconds. In a game of inches, those tenths of a second are precious. Shortstop Casey Schmitt laid the tag on Marte milliseconds before his outstretched hand reach the base, pumping his fist when second-base umpire Stu Scheurwater signaled that he was out.

“I think it was one of his better release times to the plate, for sure,” Hallberg said. “That was a good enough time with Patrick Bailey’s release time. When you have an elite catcher obviously you have a little bit more margin when it comes to the time.”

The pitch also registered 101 mph on the radar gun and was one of three eventual strikes against Brandon Nimmo, who went down swinging one pitch later for the final out.

“I know that Bailey had a very good arm, he has very good footwork behind the plate,” Doval said. “I told myself if he tries to steal second base, he’s going to be out. And he was. And I threw a really hard fastball that took a second to get to home plate. So you have both components there.”

Kapler noted that some of the best closers in history have routinely ignored runners and relied on their ability to strike batters out. Doval, with 12.6 strikeouts per nine innings, agreed that can sometimes be a problem for him.

“It depends on the situation,” he said. “Sometimes, yes, I just tell myself, eh, do whatever you want to do, go crazy on the bases, I know I can strike the batter out. But I know that I have the ability to work fast. I know I have the ability to get rid of the baseball. So like (Friday), I knew that Marte was a fast runner. So I kept that in mind and I knew that I could not let him go crazy on the bases.”

Bailey added Marte to an impressive list of runners he’s caught on the base paths that already also includes Fernando Tatis Jr. and Mookie Betts. Since he was called up May 19, Bailey has thrown out 11 of 28 attempted base stealers, more than any catcher in the majors in that time and a success rate (39%) nearly double the MLB average.

Adding to Friday’s accomplishment: the Mets had been successful in their past 35 stolen base attempts.

It took a team effort to snap the streak, which required a significant step forward from Doval.

“He’s competing with the hitter at the plate and he’s competing with the base runners. He’s just a complete closer in that way now,” Kapler said. “If he can control the running game, the sky’s the limit for Camilo.”