Birdsong, Giants optimistic for turnaround in '26

The Giants were counting on Hayden Birdsong to be a key piece of their pitching staff this year, but the 24-year-old right-hander fell off the map in the second half.

Birdsong opened the season in the bullpen and got off to a hot start by posting a 2.31 ERA over his first 11 relief appearances of the year, prompting the Giants to move him back into their starting rotation in May. But he couldn’t stick as a starter after inexplicably losing his command. He struggled to a 6.17 ERA over his next 10 outings, issuing 27 walks and surrendering six home runs in 42 1/3 innings over that span.

The Giants hoped sending Birdsong back to Triple-A Sacramento on July 22 would give him a chance to reset and fix his control issues, but he couldn’t get back on track in the Minors. He recorded a 6.23 ERA with 30 walks in 39 innings across 10 starts for the River Cats, which prevented him from getting another look in the Majors in 2025.

The Giants were in dire need of rotation help in September after trading Kyle Harrison to the Red Sox and losing Landen Roupp and Carson Whisenhunt to injuries, but they opted to give starting opportunities to other young pitchers like Kai-Wei Teng, Carson Seymour and Trevor McDonald rather than recall Birdsong down the stretch.

It was a befuddling regression for Birdsong, who has plus stuff but will need to figure out a way to throw more strikes to force his way back into the Giants’ pitching plans for 2026. While this past season didn’t play out the way he wanted, vice president of player development Randy Winn said Birdsong hasn’t lost confidence that he can re-establish himself as an impact arm in San Francisco next year.

“I talked to Birdie in late September when I was in Arizona, and he was very positive,” Winn said last month. “He seemed like he was in a good mental state. I just asked him to reflect on his year a little bit. He said, ‘I believe in my stuff. I just need to throw strikes more.’ That’s very positive, that the belief is still there in the player.”

What does Birdsong need to do to return to form next season?

“I think it’s twofold, honestly,” Winn said. “I think it’s a bit mindset and a bit mechanical that led to losing the strike zone at times. I have all the confidence in the world that he’s going to be able to fix that. We’ve talked to him about his offseason plan, and he shared with us what he would like to do. We’re going to get back to work.

“When I say a mindset thing, I use the example of Sandy Koufax and when he talked about when he went from a very good pitcher to a great pitcher. His mindset changed from, instead of trying to miss bats, he tried to make people hit his pitches. Just getting Birdie to flip the mindset on the mound into more of an attack mindset and fixing a little small mechanical stuff that led to some of that arm-side miss is the plan for him this offseason.”

Winn said the Giants expect Birdsong to remain on a starting track and come into Spring Training with a chance to compete for a spot in the big league rotation in 2026. San Francisco currently has Logan Webb and Robbie Ray locked into its top two starting spots and Roupp projected to take down a third, but the club plans to actively seek out more pitching depth this offseason.

Framber Valdez, Dylan Cease, Michael King, Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Ranger Suárez and Max Scherzer will be among the starters who will be available in free agency this winter, but the Giants will also need internal options like Birdsong to continue to take steps forward and show that they can be options to plug holes on the pitching staff as well.

“I think there’s a natural maturation for young pitchers at the big league level of having to go through some bumps and bruises of pitching at the Major League level against hitters like this,” general manager Zack Minasian said last month. “It’s a tough job. It’s not often that you see young pitchers come up and dominate right away. It doesn't mean that they can’t be very good going forward.”