SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The Giants have but to resolve whether or not Hayden Birdsong or Kyle Harrison or Landen Roupp might be their fifth starter. They probably gained’t finalize their determination till proper earlier than they journey to Cincinnati. With a week-and-a-half remaining till Opening Day, the race might have dwindled down to 2.
Birdsong turned in his finest outing of the spring on Sunday towards the A’s at Scottsdale Stadium, tossing 5 scoreless innings with eight strikeouts and no walks on 60 pitches. He was adopted by Harrison, who allowed three earned runs over three innings however flashed elevated velocity. It was the perfect Harrison has regarded, however as camp’s last days strategy, the left-hander is likely to be on the skin wanting in.
Harrison has been every week behind Birdsong and Roupp all spring after getting sick proper earlier than spring coaching, dropping round 10 to fifteen kilos. Birdsong and Roupp made their first Cactus League appearances on Feb. 22 and Feb. 23, respectively; Harrison made his on Feb. 28. When supervisor Bob Melvin was requested if Harrison had sufficient time to get totally stretched out, Melvin responded it “might be hard.”
“We’ll see where we are with him,” Melvin mentioned after the Giants’ 7-3 win. “He’s a little bit behind everybody. Today, getting him three innings and it seemed like there was a little bit more life in his arm. Like I said, it was a step in the right direction.”
That, then, would depart Birdsong and Roupp as the 2 main candidates to seize the fifth spot within the rotation. If efficiency is the deciding issue, the 23-year-old right-hander Birdsong has the benefit.
Throughout Cactus League play, Harrison has allowed one earned run over 12 innings with 18 strikeouts. For Birdsong, the stroll prevention has been simply as spectacular because the run prevention.
Final season, Birdsong walked 13.7% of the batters he confronted. If he certified, that will’ve been the worst mark in all of baseball. This spring, Birdsong hasn’t walked a single batter, a feat that’s given him “a little confidence boost.”
“It’s not always up to just stats,” Birdsong mentioned. “There’s a lot of things that play in that situation. So, I just kind of do what I can. If I win that spot, I win that spot, and hopefully, I can hold it.”
Roupp has greater than held his personal within the competitors. Together with the Cactus League stats (12 innings, 3.75 ERA, 14 strikeouts), Roupp just lately struck out 13 batters over 5 scoreless innings towards Colorado Rockies minor leaguers at Papago Park, punching out the primary 9 batters he confronted. The 26-year-old right-hander was so dominant to start that outing that bullpen coach Garvin Alston advised Roupp that they may should put runners on base if he saved shoving.
Harrison hasn’t loved the identical success as Birdsong or Roupp however noticed his fastball tick up from the low-90s to the mid-90s on Sunday. Along with his weight again within the desired 220-pound vary, Harrison sat 93-94 mph together with his fastball towards the A’s and touched 95 mph a number of instances.
Together with the added weight, Harrison is using the next arm slot in comparison with the start of camp that’s permitting for added keep on his fastball. Harrison employed the change just lately after reviewing video and believes his arm is in a greater place and “more connected.”
“That’s something we kind of looked at,” Harrison mentioned of his arm slot. “Maybe it was losing some velocity from the really far out arm slot that I got myself in a bad habit of doing. So, good to see today. Did some (medicine) ball work during the week and some drills that we’re working on slot stuff. So, to see it’s already paying off after one start, I’m going to stay on it.”
Birdsong believes that the combat for the fifth spot, no matter the way it shakes out, is bringing out the perfect of himself, Harrison and Roupp. He maintains that they’re all good mates regardless of the character of the competitors, including that he was glad to see Harrison touching 95 mph.
No matter how the battle shakes out, the whole trio is certain to contribute major-league innings in some unspecified time in the future this season. Birdsong is aware of he’ll begin for the Giants in some unspecified time in the future as a result of no workforce survives a whole season on solely 5 starters. That mentioned, the 23-year-old has his sights set on not solely making the Opening Day roster, however sticking for the whole season, too.
“That’s what you want: kind of force our hand and bring it all the way down to the end,” Melvin mentioned. “I think it adds for some adrenaline in spring training games, too. And certainly for our camp, everybody’s interested to see what happens here. All these guys are really talented, and like I said before, these guys are all going to pitch with us at some point in time.”
Value noting
Willy Adames and Wilmer Flores hit back-to-back dwelling runs off A’s left-hander Jeffrey Springs. For Adames, it was his second two-run homer in as many video games and his third homer total. Flores’ dwelling run was his second of spring.
Max Stassi hit his second homer of the spring, each of which have been towards the A’s, the workforce that drafted him within the fourth spherical in 2009. He has a .983 OPS in Cactus League play.
Lou Trivino tossed a scoreless inning to shut out Sunday’s win and is as much as 7 1/3 scoreless innings with seven strikeouts this spring.
Initially Printed: March 16, 2025 at 4:57 PM PDT
