Promising young SF Giants pitcher will still see plenty of starts in 2025

It is a mild disappointment to see promising young SF Giants hurler Hayden Birdsong start the year in the bullpen. However, the baseball season is a war of attrition, so he should still see plenty of opportunities to pitch out of the rotation in 2025.

Promising young SF Giants pitcher will still see plenty of starts in 2025

Birdsong competed with Landen Roupp and Kyle Harrison for the final rotation spot. Roupp won the final spot after a strong spring. Both him and Birdsong threw well enough to make the rotation, but there was only one spot available.

For now, Roupp will be joined in the rotation by Logan Webb, Justin Verlander, Robbie Ray, and Jordan Hicks. The Opening Day rotation will likely look different than the one at the end of the year.

Webb has solidified himself as a workhorse who expects to pitch every fifth day. That is about the only constant in this rotation. There are durability questions for every pitcher after that.

Verlander only made 17 starts last year due to neck and shoulder ailments. He has extreme mileage on his arm and is entering his 20th season in the majors. The veteran hurler did not get to where he is today without a strong routine, so he expects to rebound after an injury-marred season.

Robbie Ray is nearly two years removed from Tommy John surgery. He made seven starts last year, but he has not pitched in a full season since 2022. Can he realistically make 30 or more starts this year?

Jordan Hicks and Landen Roupp are in a similar boat. Hicks made 20 starts last year after spending the bulk of his major league career in the bullpen. He hopes to make 30 starts this year. That will largely depend on whether he remains effective as the workload ticks up.

On the other hand, Roupp has missed time in recent seasons. He has tallied just over 100 innings combined since the start of 2023. The last time he eclipsed 100 innings in a season was in 2022, which was split between three levels. The Giants will want to consider what a safe workload is for the young pitcher in 2025. While making 20 starts could be a realistic goal, does it make sense to push him beyond 25 starts? Or 30 starts? That seems unlikely.

The Steamer projections have this iteration of the rotation making 128 starts this year. That number might seem high or low. It is one data point, but it highlights that another 34 starts will need to be made by the rotation depth.

Hayden Birdsong and Kyle Harrison will be among the top depth options. In particular, Birdsong will likely be the first option to slot into the rotation in the case of injury or underperformance. So, while he will not start the year in the rotation, there will be plenty of starts to go around.