SAN FRANCISCO — Camilo Doval saved 107 games in his first stint with the Giants. He made an All-Star team, and as a rookie he became the team’s closer for the 2021 MLB playoffs. 

You could make a pretty good argument, though, that the biggest smile Doval has flashed in the home clubhouse at Oracle Park came on Friday.

Doval returned to the organization Thursday, when he was claimed a few days after the Pittsburgh Pirates surprisingly let him go to save a bit of money. The Giants activated him Friday, and he made no secret of the fact that he hopes it’s for good. 

“This is where I want to be,” Doval said through interpreter Erwin Higueros. “This is my home.”

Camilo Doval, now wearing No. 57, said his preference is to stay in SF the rest of his career.

Doval: “This is where I want to be. This is my home.”

— Alex Pavlovic (@PavlovicNBCS) September 25, 2026

The Giants sent Doval away last summer, trading him to the New York Yankees for four prospects in a deal that now looks like a heist. Doval was inconsistent in New York and was traded to Pittsburgh at the deadline this season. He pitched better there but didn’t reach his past heights. 

After the Pirates designated him for assignment, the Giants acted quickly to bring him back to his first organization. It was a gamble, one that could have cost them about $150,000 for a weekend against the Los Angeles Dodgers if Doval departs again in the offseason. Doval, though, sounds like he’ll go to great lengths to stay in 2027.

“If it were up to me, I would stay here as long as I’m pitching in the big leagues,” he said Friday. “This is where I want to be, and this is where I want to get back to the Camilo I was before.”

The Giants could make that happen pretty easily if they want to. Doval is now under their control because he has one year of arbitration left, but he made $6.1 million this season and would be due a raise this winter. At first glance, paying Doval $7-plus million next season might not make the most sense given some of his struggles near the end of his tenure.

But when you dig deeper, he might actually prove to be the perfect fit. Doval had a nightmare 2024, but he bounced back in 2025, and posted a 3.09 ERA and 3.22 FIP before being sent out. If the Giants are able to add another closing option, Doval and Randy Rodríguez could be a formidable one-two punch as setup men. Doval lost his closing job at one point during his tenure in San Francisco, but he also does have those 107 saves. It’s not a stretch to imagine the 29-year-old getting back to that form. 

Then there’s this sobering fact in his favor: Even with some of the inconsistency, isn’t he better than just about everybody who came out of the bullpen for the Giants this season?

Either way, the Giants now have more options than they did a couple days ago, and they know enough about Doval that they really don’t need to see him pitch much before making a decision on whether to tender him a contract. 

Doval was added back to the roster Friday but is unlikely to pitch until Saturday or Sunday. He missed about a week because of the DFA, and the staff wants to ease him back in.

Whenever he returns to the mound at Oracle, Doval will have a new look. He was given No. 57, a twist on his familiar No. 75.

“They gave me that for good luck,” he said, a wide smile on his face. 

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