5 young pitchers SF Giants need to seriously consider converting into relievers

The SF Giants enter 2026 with their starting rotation set, but they have a bevy of young starting pitchers knocking on the door in case anyone goes down with an injury.

While it is important to have that depth, those young starters could potentially make a greater and more immediate impact at the big league level if they were used as a reliever.

Let's take a look at the five young pitchers on the team who could potentially be moved to the bullpen.

5 young SF Giants pitchers who could be converted into relievers

Carson Seymour

The Giants saw Seymour in the big leagues last season and he was used as both a starter and a reliever. His high-velocity fastball and tight slider would be perfect as a reliever and he just had a really impressive live batting practice session in which he struck out Luis Arraez which is incredibly hard to do.

His raw stuff lends itself most readily to a bullpen conversion and with the bullpen wide open this spring it wouldn't be a shock if he found a role as a reliever.

Carson Whisenhunt

Like Seymour, Carson Whisenhunt made his Giants debut last season. He was inconsistent but this season he has seemingly fixed a pitch tipping issue that he feels was to blame for his struggles in 2025. He is also flashing some more velocity on his fastball so if he is throwing heat and has figured out his changeup he could be a nightmare for opponents coming out of the bullpen.

Hayden Birdsong

One could easily argue that Birdsong is the most pivotal young pitcher for the Giants this season. He was great in spring training last year and earned a spot in the bullpen, looking absolutely dominant pitching as a reliever.

He was promoted to the rotation and slowly lost his command, ending the year completely lost in Triple-A. If he looks good in spring maybe a return to the bullpen would be in order.

Trevor McDonald

The Giants took their time in promoting McDonald last season which seemed puzzling since he appeared to be the strongest young pitcher of any of them. He has a similar style to Landen Roupp who also started off in the bullpen before eventually joining the rotation so maybe McDonald could follow a similar path.

Keaton Winn

Although Winn may be something of an afterthought, at his best he has a high-velocity fastball and a wicked splitter which is all you need to be a solid reliever. Given his injury history, a full-time relief role even in the minors could be in the cards.

Not all of these guys could be made relievers this season as the Giants need to keep at least three or four of them stretched out in case of an injury to a member of the rotation. But it would not be a bad idea to put the best performer in the bullpen to start the year and see how they fare.