Giants right-hander Hayden Birdsong is being evaluated for an elbow issue, reports Susan Slusser of The San Francisco Chronicle. President of baseball operations Buster Posey tells Slusser that the team is awaiting word from their medical staff.
At this point, it’s not clear if the team fears a potential long-term injury. Birdsong has had a brutal Spring Training, giving up eight runs over 2 1/3 innings. His velocity is intact, though, as he’s averaging 97.3 mph on his heater. He averaged 95-96 mph on his fastball while working multiple innings last year.
Birdsong was one of the organization’s better pitching prospects when he debuted in 2024. He has shown the ability to miss bats at the highest level, but subpar command has undercut his consistency. Birdsong excelled out of the bullpen early in the ’25 season.
The Giants moved him to the rotation towards the end of May. Birdsong’s first five starts were solid enough, if inefficient, but the wheels fell off in his latter five appearances. A July 21 outing in which Birdsong didn’t retire any of six batters faced was the final straw. The Giants optioned him to Triple-A. A 6.23 ERA across 10 Triple-A starts wasn’t enough to get back to the MLB level.
Birdsong entered the spring no higher than sixth on the rotation depth chart. He can continue to start in the minors or be an option for work in a wide open San Francisco bullpen. His Spring Training numbers hadn’t put him in a great position to break camp even before the potential for an injured list stint.
