Early SF Giants competition for fifth rotation spot is starting to heat up

The SF Giants will enter this offseason wondering how to pad out their pitching staff which could definitely use some more depth in 2026. A competition for the fifth starter in 2026 may be well underway between their young arms.

Trevor McDonald took the ball and made his first career MLB start on Sunday against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He pitched great as he made it into the seventh inning and only allowed one earned run. He has now added his name to the list of young pitchers who will be competing for a role next season.

SF Giants figuring out situation with young arms for rotation in 2026

Going into next season, the Giants probably feel reasonably confident that they will have Logan Webb, Robbie Ray, and Landen Roupp in their starting rotation to begin the year. After that, things become much less clear.

Justin Verlander has been amazing as of late and wants to pitch in 2026 so a reunion with the Giants could make some sense. Still, he will have agency in that decision and may not want to return after the bullpen coughed up several potential wins for him.

There are also other free agents the Giants could go out and sign even if they have been reluctant to sign starting pitchers to big contracts as of late.

It depends on how the Giants want to allocate their resources in the offseason. If they double down on pitching then that could effectively relegate a lot of their younger starters to the minor leagues. However, if they go out and sign a big bat like Kyle Tucker they may not have the funds to add a big starting pitcher and may be forced to rely on a young arm as their fifth starter.

If that is how things play out, the main candidates for that fifth spot will likely be Kai-Wei Teng, Carson Whisenhunt, Carson Seymour, and Trevor McDonald. The Giants have had to rely on these arms after the injury to Roupp and it has been a real mixed bag.

All of these young pitchers have shown promise, but they have also all been knocked around and have looked very much like Triple-A pitchers at other points. To be an effective big league pitcher, it does not really matter how good you are when you're on because most pitchers who reach Triple-A can pitch six or seven respectable innings at the big league level when their stuff is working.

The real question is how good are you when your stuff is not working? Can you still deliver five or six innings where you limit the opponent to three or four runs and keep your team in the game even though you don't have a good feel for the changeup on that particular night or your command is off? That is the mark of a truly good pitcher and none of these arms has been consistent enough to warrant giving a rotation spot to.

These young arms may get a little more action down the stretch, but the competition for a potential rotation spot is underway and may resume in spring training next year.

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