Young starting pitcher is not making decision any easier for the SF Giants

The SF Giants do not necessarily have an opening in the starting rotation. That said, you would not know that with the way Trevor McDonald has been throwing the ball this spring.

Young starting pitcher is not making decision any easier for the SF Giants

The Giants began the offseason with a couple openings in the rotation. They filled those holes with the additions of Adrian Houser and Tyler Mahle.

As currently constructed, Houser and Mahle will join Logan Webb, Robbie Ray, and Landen Roupp to round out the rotation. Outside of Webb and possibly Ray, the rest of the group does not have much of a track record for volume.

Mahle has only made 24 starts over the past three seasons, and Roupp has never thrown more than 107.1 innings in a season as a pro. If Mahle, Houser, and Roupp give the Giants 25 starts apiece, they will be in a good position from a rotation workload standpoint .

However, injuries are part of the game and good teams need enough depth to withstand these injuries. More than likely, the Giants will need to cover the volume gaps that the core starter will not be able to assume.

This is where Trevor McDonald, Blade Tidwell, and Hayden Birdsong come into play. Birdsong has struggled this spring, likely pushing him down a spot or two on the depth chart.

On the other hand, McDonald and Tidwell have pitched well. McDonald has tallied seven strikeouts and only one walk across six scoreless frames in the Cactus League. He has been one of the best pitchers in Giants camp so far.

This comes on the heels of a strong finish to last season, where the right-handed hurler recorded a 1.80 ERA with 14 strikeouts and two walks in 15 innings of work. As the rotation struggled down the stretch, it left open the question of why the Giants did not get him more looks in the rotation.

If McDonald finishes the spring on a strong note, it will force the Giants to make a tough decision. Do they keep him in the bullpen to start the year and slot him into the rotation when an injury pops up? Or, do they send him back to the unforgiving environment of the Pacific Coast League? 

The Giants chose the former option with Birdsong last year. That did not work out as planned. An underrated accomplishment for McDonald in 2025 is that he threw 157.1 combined innings in Triple-A and the majors. He still has relatively low mileage for his arm. It feels like the best approach is to keep him in the rotation, whether that is in the majors or Triple-A. Though, McDonald is not making the decision any easier on the Giants and that is what you want to see from a young pitcher.