SF Giants pitcher vying for rotation has most impressive spring outing yet

The competition for the fifth spot in the SF Giants rotation is in full swing, and the dark horse candidate for the role is making a strong push for it. Landen Roupp is doing everything he can to snag that final spot in the rotation.

Roupp took the ball on Tuesday in Cactus League play against the San Diego Padres and he looked phenomenal. He went 3 and 1/3 innings and did not give up a single hit while striking out three batters.

This was definitely the most impressive start of spring training for Roupp because he was facing off against a San Diego lineup that featured several of the team's best players. The Padres had Luis Arraez, Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts, and Jackson Merill all in their starting lineup and Roupp did not miss a beat. He even struck out both Machado and Tatis.

SF Giants starter Landen Roupp continues stellar spring against Padres

Roupp has pitched very well for all of spring training thus far. He took the ball in the team's spring opener and pitched two strong, scoreless innings. He followed that up with three scoreless innings in his second start and his third start against San Diego was also scoreless. His stats on the spring as a whole are mighty impressive: a 0.00 ERA in 8 and 1/3 innings pitched with 11 strikeouts and a WHIP of 0.24. Those are the numbers of a guy on a mission to be in the starting rotation.

Heading into camp many assumed the competition for that fifth spot in the rotation would primarily be between Kyle Harrison and Hayden Birdsong. Both were featured in the rotation a lot last season so they were the two most likely candidates.

Now, the competition seems to be much more wide open thanks to Roupp's performance. Both Harrison and Birdsong have looked strong as well, but with roughly three weeks to go until Opening Day, the competition is still very much anyone's to win.

If Roupp continues to throw the ball the way he has, it is going to be very difficult to not at the very least give him a spot on the Opening Day roster. It is still very early, but depending on how things play out these next few weeks, it may end up being very hard to not award him the fifth spot in the rotation especially if he continues to perform well against some of the best hitters in the game like he did on Tuesday.