The Giants will name up pitching prospect Hayden Birdsong to start out tomorrow towards the Cubs. Supervisor Bob Melvin introduced the information this night (X hyperlink through Shayna Rubin of the San Francisco Chronicle).
It’s the primary main league name for the 6’4″ right-hander. Birdsong was a sixth-round pick of Jap Illinois in 2022. He has shortly outperformed that modest draft inventory. Birdsong pitched fairly nicely within the low minors throughout his first full skilled season. Whereas he ran right into a little bit of hassle throughout his first crack at Double-A, he established himself as one of many extra intriguing arms within the group.
Baseball America ranked Birdsong the #5 prospect within the San Francisco system getting into the season. The Athletic’s Keith Legislation slotted him tenth in February, whereas Eric Longenhagen and Travis Ice of FanGraphs ranked him seventeenth on their organizational write-up in April. All three shops credit score him with a velocity leap into the mid-90s throughout his first season in professional ball. Evaluators reward Birdsong’s 12-6 curveball and slider as nicely, although scouting stories haven’t been particularly eager on his changeup.
FanGraphs writes that Birdsong is prone to find yourself in reduction due to subpar command. The stories at BA and The Athletic had been extra optimistic on his possibilities of sticking within the rotation, although each shops famous that he’ll must proceed enhancing to profile as a starter. Baseball America writes that the event of Birdsong’s command may very well be the x-factor, whereas Legislation suggests the most important query is whether or not he’ll discover a pitch with sufficient lateral motion to enrich his north-south breaking stuff.
Even when Birdsong does wind up as a bullpen piece, that’d be an excellent final result for a sixth-round draftee who signed for lower than $200K. The Giants will give him a possibility to stay as a starter earlier than contemplating that chance. Birdsong has turned in glorious numbers for Double-A Richmond this 12 months. In 11 begins, he labored to a 2.05 earned run common whereas punching out 30.7% of opposing hitters. Whereas he issued walks at a lofty 10.1% clip, his stuff was clearly too superior for Double-A.
The Giants bumped the 22-year-old to Triple-A Sacramento 10 days in the past. Birdsong allowed 5 runs on eight hits and 6 walks over his first 9 innings within the Pacific Coast League. Regardless of his restricted expertise on the high minor league stage, he’ll get a glance towards MLB hitters. The Giants misplaced Keaton Winn to the injured record over the weekend, necessitating a fifth starter in the event that they weren’t going to make use of a bullpen sport.
Birdsong isn’t on the 40-man roster. The Giants will choose his contract tomorrow and might want to make corresponding energetic and 40-man roster transactions. They don’t have any apparent candidates for a transfer to the 60-day injured record, in order that they’ll seemingly designate somebody for task.
