One of the biggest shortcomings for the San Francisco Giants in the 2024 season was their starting rotation.
Ace Logan Webb remains as reliable of a starter as there is in baseball, but his production slipped for a second straight season. Blake Snell was incredible, but only after a second stint on the injury list when his upswing began in July.
Robbie Ray, who was acquired from the Seattle Mariners in the offseason, made only seven starts. He ended the season on the injured list alongside Kyle Harrison, Jordan Hicks, Keaton Winn and Mason Black.
Alex Cobb made zero starts before he was traded to the Cleveland Guardians.
As a result, one of the players who was tasked with stepping into a larger-than-anticipated role was rookie Hayden Birdsong.
A sixth-round pick in the 2022 MLB Draft, he flew through the team’s Minor League system. As is the case with many youngsters, he had bouts of ineffectiveness in his first taste of the Major Leagues.
High pitch counts were normally his nemesis. He failed to complete five innings in nine out of his 16 starts, including a stretch of six consecutive throughout August into September.
But, we did see glimpses of his incredible potential, which was on full display in his final start of the season.
In their season finale on Sunday, Birdsong took the mound against the St. Louis Cardinals. He was blowing away hitters in the early going, racking up at least two strikeouts in each of the first four innings, including striking out the side twice.
That put him with some elite company in Giants franchise history.
According to Sarah Langs of MLB.com, Birdsong is only the third pitcher to record at least 10 strikeouts in the first four innings of a game. Snell, on July 27th earlier this year, and Jason Schmidt on August 30th, 2002 are the other two.
Hayden Birdsong’s 10 strikeouts are tied for most by a Giants pitcher in the first 4 innings of a game in the divisional era (1969), with:
7/27/24 Blake Snell
8/30/02 Jason Schmidt
— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) September 29, 2024
But, he did manage to get into a league of his own, as shared by Sam Connon of Fastball on SI.
By striking out the first batter he faced in the fifth inning, the young righty became the first San Francisco pitcher in the divisional era to have 11 of the first 13 outs of a game be a strikeout.
That is the kind of high note that will give a player a lot of confidence and momentum heading into the offseason. Birdsong should be a major part of the team’s plans moving forward, as he has the stuff to be a top-of-the-rotation pitcher.
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