It may be time to hit the panic button with two young SF Giants pitchers

The SF Giants have a solid starting rotation, but they may have two weak links. Kyle Harrison and Hayden Birdsong have both looked brilliant at times this year, but they are both young and have shown some signs of decline.

The SF Giants have two weak links in their rotation

With injuries to the starting rotation in the first half, the Giants had to lean heavily on Harrison and Birdsong. For the most part, they have answered the call in turned in a number of quality starts for the team. However, they are both 22 years old and both are being pushed beyond their previous highs for innings at any level of professional baseball.

Farhan Zaidi recently spoke about how he is aware of the concerns surrounding both of these young arms, but that he is confident they will be effective down the stretch. That is really the only answer he can give. The Giants do not have much of a backup plan behind the two young pitchers. If they get worn out or are no longer effective the Giants would probably just turn to bullpen games for their spots in the rotation.

There seemed to be some cause for concern after some of their recent starts. Harrison got knocked around against the Red in Cincinnati and then Birdsong had the worst start of his career against the Nationals in DC. The fact that they happened so close together was naturally going to lead to concerns that the Giants were pushing them both too hard and the fatigue was showing.

However, Harrison turned things around with yesterday's performance against the Nationals. He only allowed 2 earned runs in 4 and 2/3 innings which was pretty impressive given the rain delays in the game. Yet, one negative is that Harrison's fastball velocity was down again just like in his start in Cincinatti. This is definitely a cause for concern. One of Harrison's key pitches is that high fastball across the letters. When he is on, hitters simply cannot catch up to his 95 mph up in the zone due to his deceptive delivery. That pitch will not be as effective if he is only throwing it at 90 mph so that dip in velocity is definitely a concern.

There has not been a velocity dip with Birdsong, but he really got knocked around in his last start. His next start should be at Oracle Park which may be just what he needs. The cool air and pitcher-friendly park should help to steady the young pitcher. The Giants traded Alex Cobb which was in essence an endorsement of Birdsong. The Giants believe he can be an effective starter down the stretch and a bounceback performance in his next outing would go a long way to prove that.

Every game means a ton the rest of the season for the Giants. If they have any hope of making the postseason, they are going to need everyone's best. While we know their rotation is capable of being great, there are two big question marks right now with Harrison and Birdsong. The Giants need them to transform from question marks to exclamation points by the end of the season if they want to play postseason ball.