The SF Giants will likely be patient with struggling starting pitchers

The starting rotation is off to a slow start with a 4.61 ERA, which is the seventh-worst mark in baseball. Justin Verlander, Jordan Hicks, and Robbie Ray have displayed some troubling trends, but the SF Giants will be patient.

The SF Giants will likely be patient with struggling starting pitchers

Logan Webb has been excellent with a 2.40 ERA through his first five starts. This includes a solid outing against the Los Angeles Angels on Friday where he yielded two runs (one earned run) with 12 strikeouts against zero walks across six frames in a 2-0 loss.

Landen Roupp has looked better than his 4.80 ERA would indicate. He is getting a lot of strikeouts and a healthy number of ground balls. On the other hand, he has walked a few too many batters, and hitters have posted an unusually high .410 BABIP against him that season. The league BABIP usually sits around .300 each year, so Roupp's topline numbers should benefit when it comes down.

On the other hand, Verlander, Hicks, and Ray are off to slow starts. This is occurring in conjunction with Hayden Birdsong pitching well out of the bullpen. Carson Seymour, Carson Whisenhunt, and Kyle Harrison have looked good with the Sacramento River Cats as well.

In particular, Seymour has allowed two earned with 22 strikeouts and five walks in 18 innings with the River Cats. He has shown improvement with his control. These pitchers are staking a case for the starting rotation when the opportunity arises, but the Giants will be patient.

Verlander has a 6.75 ERA through his first four starts. His fastball velocity is back up to 94.5 MPH, but it is also getting hit very hard. Opposing hitters have tallied a .529 slugging percentage against it in 2025. Given that the veteran pitcher throws it nearly 50 percent of the time, that is a trend to monitor.

Hicks has struggled to be effective while a troubling trend could be emerging. Surprisingly, he has registered a 7.7 K/9 despite flashing a fastball that sits in the high 90's. This comes with a high walk rate, but he does get a healthy number of ground balls.

Lastly, Ray's control has been absent this season. He has issued 15 walks across 19.1 innings this season. Plus, there is a notable decrease in his strikeout rate to 9.8 K/9. The changeup he learned from Tarik Skubal has been rarely used this season.

Despite this, the Giants will be patient with their veteran starters. Verlander has had moments where he has thrown the ball well. He has hit a rough patch in each outing that has distracted from what could have been a good start.

They did not bring in Verlander to demote him after a few rough starts. He will get a chance to pitch out of this rough patch. The same is true for Ray and Hicks. Ray is under control through the 2026 season, and it would be surprising if he was moved in and out of the rotation.

The Giants have an obvious backup plan with Hicks. If he cannot stick in the rotation, he can shift back to the bullpen. They are not at that point yet. However, if he does not give them much length in his starts and puts up below-average numbers, it could be a point they cross soon enough. With all of these pitchers, they will be patient. That seems to be one of the themes with the new front office so far.