The Giants announced on Monday that they have signed a free agent on the right Luke Jackson to a two-year contract which includes a club option for a third season. He will be guaranteed $11.5 million which will be paid out as a $3 million salary in 2023, a $6.5 million salary in 2024 and then a $2 million buyout. dollars on a $7 million option for the third year. Jackson, a Vayner Sports client, did not pitch in 2022 after undergoing Tommy John surgery in April. The Giants didn’t provide a schedule, but given the date of his surgery, it’s likely Jackson will open the season on the injured list.
The 31-year-old Jackson has had something of a rollercoaster tenure in the Atlanta bullpen, sometimes operating as the closer team and on other occasions being relegated to low-impact roles of leverage while battling tough results. He saved his best performance for last, however, dominating as the team’s primary trainer in their run at the World Series in 2021.
Jackson, who hit a disastrous 6.84 ERA in the shortened 2020 season, threw an outstanding 1.98 ERA with a 26.8% strikeout rate and 11.1 walk rate % for the Braves during the 2021 regular season. He was virtually untouchable in the final two months of the season, recording a 1.35 ERA and a 33-10 K-to-BB ratio with only one homer allowed on his last 26 2/3 frames that year.
For much of the playoffs, it was the same. Jackson didn’t score in his first six playoff games — four NLDS games and two in the NLCS — before the Dodgers ambushed him for four runs in just a third of an inning. The Braves lost that game (with Jackson taking the loss) but hung on to win the series. The World Series presented Jackson with a chance for redemption, and he took it, going 3 2/3 shutout innings with just one hit, no walks and four punches.
Looking at Jackson’s career from a broader perspective, the former No. 45 overall pick (Rangers, 2010) was a touted pitching prospect with Texas before being traded to the Braves in exchange for right-handers. Tyrell Jenkins and Brady Feig. None of those pitchers did anything for Texas, and while Jackson’s first season with the Braves in 2017 was pretty indescribable, he started to take a turn the following season.
It was 2018 when Jackson shelved his change entirely, reduced the use of his four seams and curveball, and started throwing his slider more than any other offering. Since then, Jackson has seen his strikeout rate go from a terrible 13.4% to a very strong 27.1%. He averaged 95.5 mph on his heater along the way and also went from flying ball thrower to hardy ground ball worker, keeping a whopping 55.8% of balls put in play against him on the ground. Command has been a frequent issue, as evidenced by a 10% walk rate in his last 203 1/3 innings (2018-21), but Jackson’s ability to miss bats, induce doubles plays and avoiding home runs (0.93 HR/9) helped him make up for this below-average ability to locate the ball.
Although he’s likely tied to the IL to start the year, Jackson could still return to the big league bullpen before midseason. Once he does, he will add even more swing-and-miss to what has become an increasingly solid relief corps in San Francisco. left handed Taylor Rogers was signed for end-of-innings work alongside an alleged closer Camilo Dovaland the giants will also have John Brebbia and Tyler Rogers (twin brother to Taylor) in the mix for end-inning opportunities. The pitching team has up to seven capable starters – Logan Webb, Alex Cobb, Alex Wood, Ross Striplin, Sean Manea, Anthony DeSclafani, Jacob Junis — and the potential for two of them (Junis and possibly DeSclafani) to throw in relief only deepens the bullpen further.
Jackson’s modest $3 million salary in 2023 will push the payroll to $192.2 million, per list resource, while the Giants now have more than $213 million in luxury tax liabilities. That leaves plenty of room for a few more signings, whether to further deepen the relief body or add another bat to the lineup.
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