Projecting SF Giants' 2028 rotation after Jackson Flora dazzles yet again

The SF Giants wanted to give Jackson Flora a bit of a challenge by promoting him to the Double-A Richmond team after two strong outings with the Single-A San Jose Giants. It was an elimination playoff game for the Flying Squirrels and Flora went out there and pitched great, throwing two innings and not allowing a run while striking out four batters.

The No. 4 overall pick in the 2026 MLB Draft had more of that swagger and moxie he displayed in his second start with San Jose and even though he has only made three pro outings thus far, it’s hard not to get excited about the prospect of him being in San Francisco’s rotation someday.

There is a chance he could make his big league debut as soon as 2027, but with the potential for next season to be truncated due to the lockout that makes 2028 a more likely debut season for him.

It may be a somewhat futile exercise to try to predict who will be in the team’s starting rotation at that point, but why not take a stab at it?

Potential SF Giants starting rotation in 2028

Logan Webb

Unless the Giants extend or trade Webb, 2028 will be his final season under contract with San Francisco. While he has struggled this season and will probably be shut down, if he can get back to being his usual, consistent self then there’s no reason to think he won’t be the ace of the staff still.

Kevin Gausman

I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the Giants decided to sign Kevin Gausman in free agency this upcoming offseason. If hiring Buster Posey was meant as a repudiation of Farhan Zaidi, then what better way to represent that by bringing back the guy who Zaidi let depart after the magical 2021 season.

Never mind the fact that Gausman is now 35 and has a 4.55 ERA this season, but the Giants could probably get him on a more affordable deal. Maybe two years for $40 million or something like that just so they have a bit more stability in the rotation.

George Kirby

A trade between the Seattle Mariners and Giants feels exceedingly likely this offseason. The Giants have a hitter in Casey Schmitt who would make a ton of sense with Seattle and the Mariners have several pitchers, like George Kirby, who would look really good in orange and black.

Kirby has a 4.24 ERA this season but he doesn’t walk a lot of guys which seems like the exact kind of pitcher Buster Posey will target this upcoming offseason.

Landen Roupp

It has been an up and down year for Landen Roupp, but he has done enough to suggest he has a place in the 2027 rotation. He has a 4.01 ERA on the year and seems likely to be a No. 4 starter going into next season so as long as he doesn’t have a terrible 2027 he should remain in the rotation in 2028.

Jackson Flora

Maybe Flora won’t start the year in San Francisco’s rotation, but at some point he will likely get called up assuming he is healthy and progresses as planned in 2027. He will be 23 in May of that year so that seems like a great time to call him up and see if he has the goods at the big league level.

There are other arms who could factor into this mix like Blade Tidwell or Hayden Birdsong. This is obviously just a guess and we will likely all get to look back and laugh at how wrong I was a few years from now, but Flora being in the rotation at some point in 2028 seems like the least crazy prediction of them all. He’s already impressing in the minors and the Giants need to boost their pitching staff in the coming years if they plan to be competitive so his emergence will be key to that.

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