Giants right-hander Hayden Birdsong recently underwent an MRI due to an issue in his elbow/forearm area, and the news isn’t encouraging. Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area was among those to relay this afternoon that Birdsong has been diagnosed with a Grade 2 forearm strain and a UCL sprain. He’s weighing treatment options and expected to seek a second opinion from Dr. Keith Meister in the coming days.
While the exact timeline for Birdsong’s return to action won’t be known until the right-hander makes a decision on his treatment plan, fans in San Francisco should expect him to be out for at the very least months after this diagnosis, if not much longer. As Pavlovic notes, Birdsong’s diagnosis is often one that ends in Tommy John surgery. That would wipe out the entire 2026 season and likely at least part of the 2027 campaign as well for the right-hander, although if he opts to rehab the injury he would likely have a chance to return to the mound at some point this year.
It’s a frustrating turn of events for Birdsong and the Giants, as the former top prospect is still just 24 years old and was one of the club’s top depth arms behind their starting five of Logan Webb, Robbie Ray, Adrian Houser, Tyler Mahle, and Landen Roupp. Birdsong struggled badly with his command this spring, a trend that began last season, but has never wanted for velocity. Even during camp, the right-hander was throwing his heater at 97mph. He sports a career 4.77 ERA with a similar 4.81 FIP in the majors, but has shown flashes of excellence at times. That includes a 2.37 ERA and 3.50 FIP in his first 14 appearances last year, split between 11 relief appearances and three starts totaling 38 innings of work altogether. Pavlovic notes that the Giants were very encouraged by Birdsong’s latest spring outing, which saw him allow zero walks and strike out one batter while allowing just one hit in a scoreless inning.
If Birdsong had managed to finish Spring Training strong, it wouldn’t have been hard to imagine him as the next man up for the Giants’ rotation in case of injury headed into the season. That’s obviously off the table now, of course, and San Francisco will instead have to turn to a handful of other young arms if and when injuries force them to dip into their depth options. Top prospect Carson Whisenhunt is perhaps the most exciting name of the group, though he didn’t exactly impress in his 20 1/3 inning cup of coffee in the majors last year. The same can be said of Blade Tidwell, who posted a 9.00 ERA in four starts for the Mets before being dealt to San Francisco in the Tyler Rogers trade at the trade deadline. Swing man Carson Seymour also made his big league debut last year to mixed results, and after that trio the Giants could look towards non-roster invitees in camp like right-hander Caleb Kilian.
