Birdsong weighing treatment options after right forearm, UCL strain diagnoses

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Hayden Birdsong hoped he’d miss minimal time after experiencing right elbow soreness during his last Cactus League outing on Tuesday. But it’s now looking like the young starter won’t be returning to the mound anytime soon.

The Giants announced Sunday that Birdsong’s MRI exam revealed a Grade 2 right forearm strain and ulnar collateral ligament sprain. Birdsong is currently weighing his treatment options and will travel to Dallas this week to seek out a second opinion from Dr. Keith Meister.

Birdsong could try to rehab the injury, but if it doesn’t improve, he will likely be forced to undergo Tommy John surgery, which typically has a recovery period of 12-14 months.

“It’s certainly not the best-case scenario, but hopefully we get the best-case scenario of the unfortunate circumstances,” manager Tony Vitello said Sunday.

Birdsong topped out at 99.6 mph while facing the Guardians last week, but he said he felt a pop in his elbow after throwing a curveball and came out of the game after completing one scoreless inning in relief. It had been the best outing of the spring for Birdsong, who gave up eight runs over 2 1/3 innings in three Cactus League appearances this year.

“Obviously, I’m not happy about it, but it’s one of those things that I feel like everybody kind of goes through at this point,” Birdsong said. “I wish it wasn’t right now. I wish I could do a couple of seasons before something like this happens, but hopefully it’s not as bad as we think it is and I’m back in a couple of months and will be ready to throw.”

Birdsong was viewed as a strong candidate to nab a spot in San Francisco’s Opening Day bullpen for the second consecutive year, but he lost ground to upstarts like Trevor McDonald, Carson Whisenhunt, Carson Seymour and Blade Tidwell following his rough start to Cactus League action. The elbow injury will set Birdsong back even more, but Vitello said he believes the 24-year-old is still in a good frame of mind.

“I don't think the timing is ever good,” Vitello said. “He's a pretty positive kid. I think he's too hard on himself on the mound, if we're going to be blunt. But I think he's always a positive kid. He's been great the couple days or a couple moments I've passed by him at the facility. I think he'll approach the whole deal the right way, regardless of what it is. It'd be nice to know the exact outcome, but I think it'll be a day or two before we get there.”

Birdsong recorded a 4.80 ERA over 21 appearances (10 starts) for the Giants in 2025, though he inexplicably lost his command halfway through the season and ended up spending the final two months of the year at Triple-A Sacramento. Still, the Giants remained high on Birdsong’s upside and were confident that they could help him regain the form he showed at the beginning of last year, when he logged a 2.31 ERA over his first 11 relief outings.

Losing Birdsong for an extended period of time would be a blow to the Giants’ starting pitching depth, but Vitello believes the organization remains in a good spot given the emergence of other young arms like McDonald, Whisenhunt, Seymour and Tidwell this spring.

Logan Webb, Robbie Ray, Landen Roupp, Adrian Houser and Tyler Mahle are projected to be in the Opening Day rotation right now, so the Giants will have to decide whether to carry any of their other starting options in the bullpen or keep them stretched out at Triple-A Sacramento so they’re ready to step in and fill any holes that may arise during the regular season.

“I think the depth, if you're just talking about the whole group, is still strong,” Vitello said. “That's fresh on my brain, talking about the competitiveness we still have within that group on who belongs where, who can do what, who maybe is actually ahead of this guy. We'd love to have Birdy be a part of that group because he does kind of have a little bit of ability to swing back and forth between starting and bullpen. We'll dive into who provides that depth in the starting roles, but if you're going to boil it down to a bigger picture question, I do feel good about the competitiveness and the depth.”