Harrison, Birdsong headline SF Giants’ competition for final rotation spot

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Bob Melvin entered camp with four locks in the Giants’ starting rotation.

There’s Logan Webb, the ace of staff. There’s Justin Verlander, the future Hall of Famer. There’s Robbie Ray, the former Cy Young Award winner. There’s Jordan Hicks, the reliever-turned-starter who’s put on muscle.

As for the fifth spot? That remains up for grabs.

“Bob and I have talked about it,” Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey said this week. “The way we’re doing it is there will be a competition. I wouldn’t even want to necessarily throw names out there at this point. You can point to (Kyle) Harrison and (Hayden) Birdsong, but there’s a number of other guys in camp that are going to be competing.”

While there is a long list of starters in camp — Landen Roupp, Mason Black, Keaton Winn, Trevor McDonald, Tristan Beck — the competition for the fifth spot is headlined by Harrison and Birdsong. And between the two, the early edge likely belongs to Harrison.

Harrison, 23, cracked last year’s Opening Day rotation and produced a 7-7 record, 4.56 ERA and 118 strikeouts. The left-hander’s 124 1/3 innings were the most he’s thrown in a professional season — he was one of four pitchers 22-and-under to throw at least 120 innings — but hit the injured list twice due to a right ankle sprain and left shoulder impingement.

The combination of workload and injuries resulted in Harrison’s velocity noticeably dipping.

When Harrison made his debut in 2023, he had an average fastball velocity of 93.5 mph. Last season, Harrison’s average fastball velocity was down to 92.5 mph, fading as the season went along. Harrison primarily attributed the drop in velocity to the injuries. He learned in the offseason that coming back too soon from the ankle injury led to his shoulder injury and that his delivery ended up suffering as a result. Having made the necessary adjustments, Harrison feels more fluid and is throwing with no pain. His goal this season is to throw more innings than last year.

“I don’t know how we didn’t see it,” Harrison said. “It just went right over our heads. But now I look at the video of me throwing at the end of last year compared to now and I’m like, ‘Man, I was moving so much differently.’”

Along with re-claiming his velocity, Harrison wants to reclaim his ability to stack strikeouts.

Harrison piled up the punchouts during his time in the minors, striking out 452 batters over 279 1/3 innings — good for an eye-popping 14.6 per nine innings. Over 31 career major-league starts, by contrast, Harrison has struck out 153 batters over 159 innings, or 8.66 per nine innings, which was right around league average last year for starters (8.34 K/9). Harrison’s addition of a cutter and harder slider could aid him in his quest for more whiffs.

Birdsong, by contrast, had no problems piling strikeouts at the major-league level.

Injuries pushed Birdsong, who began last season with Double-A Richmond, into San Francisco’s starting rotation. His 4.75 ERA wasn’t as impressive as his 88 strikeouts over 72 innings. If Birdsong qualified, his 11.00 strikeouts per nine innings would’ve ranked second in all of baseball behind only Chris Sale (11.40). The cherry-picking, though, goes in the other direction.

Along with the strikeouts, Birdsong walked 5.38 batters per innings. If Birdsong qualified, that wouldn’t have just been the worst mark in the majors; it would’ve been the second-worst single-season mark this millennium behind only Matt Clement with the Padres in 2000 (5.49).

It should come as no surprise, then, that when Birdsong watched video from last year, there was one main area he wanted to address.

“Strikes,” Birdsong laughed. “That’s it. I’d get behind in the count way too much and need to get ahead in the count. That’s about it.”

Birdsong and Harrison are the two favorites to win the rotation’s final spot, but they’re far from the only players in camp with experience starting at the major-league level.

Roupp, 26, appeared in 26 games and made four starts last season as a rookie, posting a 3.58 ERA over 50 1/3 inning. This spring, he’s added a cutter and is re-incorporating his four-seamer.

Winn, who turns 27 on Thursday, had a 3.18 ERA in April and ended the month with three straight quality starts before injuries derailed his season.

Black, 25, started eight games for the club last year albeit to poor results (6.44 ERA).

Beck, 28, spent much of last season recovering from an aneurysm in his right shoulder but pitched well upon returning (1.69 ERA, seven games, one start).

McDonald, 23, had a 4.40 ERA over 23 games (20 starts) with Triple-A Sacramento last season.

For all those names, though, the choice will likely come down to Harrison and Birdsong. The Giants will not solely rely on their performance in spring training when making a decision and will likely factor in last year’s performance as well. That said, Harrison, Birdsong and the bunch have no qualms about competing.

“I’m coming in ready to attack, pound the strike zone, have some fun and compete — no doubt,” Harrison said.