2025 stats: 65.2 IP, 21 G (10 GS), 4.80 ERA \/ 4.96 FIP, 1.492 WHIP, 22.8 K%, 12.4 BB%, 0.0 fWAR<\/p>\n
Some of us will spend most of this offseason wondering what happened to Hayden Birdsong. It\u2019s not just that the 6\u20194\u201d 23-year old who captured hearts and minds last season only to lay a big ol\u2019 egg this season, it\u2019s that his spiral has been so expansive and destructive that he shouldn\u2019t be considered part of the team\u2019s plans for 2026\u2026<\/p>\n
At least in the rotation.<\/p>\n
After a heckuva spring (0.75 ERA in 12 IP \u2014 just 1 start), a glut of stronger arms in the starting rotation pushed him to the bullpen, where he wound up being mostly good and sometimes excellent. He ended April with a 1.13 ERA in 16 IP (7 games; only 1 of which was a single inning). Now, reliever ERAs in a small sample can be misleading, which is why FIP is so helpful. A 3.01 FIP isn\u2019t as dominant as the ERA, but it put him just below the elite relievers in the sport, which gave the Giants a nice problem to have until Justin Verlander landed on the IL. That pushed Birdsong back into the rotation and it was from this point on that his interesting yet fragile season cracked.<\/p>\n
Walks have always been a problem for the kid, along with the home run ball. Both wound up sinking his 2024, too, as you\u2019ll recall. His final 10 appearances for the Giants came as a starter, and in those 42.1 IP he walked 27 (13.7%) and allowed 6 home runs. It worked out to a 6.17 ERA and 4.72 FIP. His fastball velocity declined, too. That four-seamer was his worst pitch last season (.529 expected slugging%), and this year, it was simply one of many that garnered ugly results.<\/p>\n
Four-seamer: .458 xSLG
Slider: .419 xSLG
Changeup: .342 xSLG
Curveball: .393 xSLG
Slurve: 1.460 xSLG<\/p>\n
Now, caveat: the slurve was thrown just 21 times. Meanwhile, you might wonder why he threw his four-seamer the most (44.1%) with such terrible results. Well, in some ways, the results were actually better compared to last season \u2014 lower batting average and expected slugging against, lower average exit velocity, increased whiff rate and higher spin rate, all while maintaining average velocity (95+), improved Stuff+ (95 compared to 80) \u2014 and when you look at the rest of his arsenal, then it seems as though he leaned on the pitch to bail himself out.<\/p>\n
His slider, changeup, and curveball were all down in terms of stuff and overall his location was even worse this season. So, declined stuff on the secondary pitches coupled with bad command and there you have it: a reliever in the making. It\u2019s perhaps not what the Giants have in mind and given his age it\u2019s likely they\u2019ll give him another shot at starting, but they have a lot of data for him in a starting role. After being sent to down to Sacramento, he sported a 6.69 ERA in 10 starts (39 IP) with a 9.7 H\/9, 6.9 BB\/9, 2.1 HR\/9 and 10.8 K\/9. A 1.85 WHIP is, uh, not good.<\/p>\n