Young SF Giants pitcher's mechanical tweaks may determine his future with the team

If the SF Giants are indeed done making moves to address the starting rotation, although some rumors suggest they may be active, the team will have to rely on its young pitching depth in 2026.

It would be unrealistic to think the Giants will get 32 starts from Robbie Ray, Landen Roupp, Tyler Mahle, and Adrian Houser. Guys are going to struggle or get hurt so the Giants will have to turn to some of their younger starters at some point.

One of those starters is Hayden Birdsong, whose mechanical adjustments this offseason could determine his future with the club.

SF Giants need Hayden Birdsong to get right for 2026

Birdsong talked about how he has made some mechanical tweaks to try and improve after his command completely abandoned him last season. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle shared the following on social media:

"Hayden Birdsong has made some mechanical adjustments and he’s excited about how he’s throwing - Logan Webb has seen his stuff and Webb says he’s very excited about Birdsong’s upcoming season."

The Webb endorsement is nice to hear and one can only hope Birdsong can get his confidence back because the last time he was on the mound for the Giants it was a complete disaster.

In July against the Atlanta Braves, Birdsong walked four batters and gave up five earned runs without recording a single out. He was removed from the game and was promptly sent down to Triple-A.

Unfortunately, the command issues did not get any better with the Sacramento River Cats. In 39 innings pitched he walked an alarming 30 batters.

It seems like after he was promoted to the starting rotation after a solid stint as a reliever early in the season, his mechanics just got out of wack and then he completely lost his confidence.

This can happen to the best of pitchers so Birdsong should not feel too bad, but 2026 seems like the season when he can really prove whether or not he belongs in the rotation going forward.

Birdsong is 24 years old now which is the same age that Logan Webb was in 2021 when he finally took the leap from being a guy with a lot of promise to a guy who was going to be a rotation fixture for years to come.

Everyone knows that Birdsong has the raw stuff to compete at the big league level. Even amidst his struggles he struck out 68 batters in 65 innings of work last season so he has no problem in the stuff department.

He just needs to be more consistent with his delivery and mechanics so hopefully whatever changes he made in the offseason will unlock his true potential.