San Francisco Giants Rookie One of Pitchers 'Best Set Up for Success'

The San Francisco Giants have a rookie pitcher believed to be 'set up for success' according to an MLB analyst.

Jul 27, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Hayden Birdsong (60) delivers a pitch against the Colorado Rockies during the first inning at Oracle Park. / D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY Sports

The San Francisco Giants young pitcher has had an up-and-down start to his MLB career but has already shown enough to majorly impress some.

Eno Sarris of The Athletic looked around at pitchers around the league that have recently debuted to find the guys 'set up for success' by something they've shown early on. Giants rookie Hayden Birdsong was one of the pitchers highlighted.

"[Birdsong] has two really good breaking balls, a feel for spin and sits 96 on the fastball. This is the kind of package you can dream about, with elite upside — all it takes is a breakthrough on the fastball, and he could suddenly be really good," said Sarris. "That’s been his story in the minor leagues, too: lurches forward that have thrust him onto the scene followed by regression. Two steps forward, one step back."

His fastball has actually been his worst pitch. FanGraphs has it as a -3.1 runs above average, meaning that batters see it very well.

The speed has been nice, he doesn't need to work on that at all. The problem has been consistently finding control with it.

As bad as his fastball has been, his curveball has been much better. He's jumped up the usage of it and his changeup given his struggles with the fastball as compared to what he was doing at Triple-A this season.

Over his first 10 career starts, the Illinois native has 4.57 ERA. That number really ballooned after a rough stretch to start August, but overall things have been very solid for the rookie.

Those first two starts of the month saw him give up 12 runs in just 6.1 innings pitched. He had a 2.97 ERA over his first six outings and things were looking great.

He's been a guy that can consistently hit five strikeouts an outing but has also gotten up to a career-high 12 against the Colorado Rockies.

Strikeouts have been a large part of his game since college and are a major reason he was drafted by San Francisco in the sixth round of the 2022 MLB draft out of Eastern Illinois university.

If he can settle into his fastball a little bit more, the Giants rotation could receive a nice boost as they finalize what things will look like next year.

He and Kyle Harrison are a high potential duo that could lead San Francisco through the rest of the 2020s.