Hayden Birdsong’s tough spring just took a turn for the worse. The San Francisco Giants’ 24-year old right-hander entered camp hoping to earn a bullpen role as well as the job of next-man-up in the rotation, but his first two outings of the spring were a disaster, and far too reminiscent of his collapse during the 2025 season.
But after throwing a few sim games in Minor League camp, Birdsong returned to Cactus League play with a stellar showing in his third and final game of the spring, which featured the hardest-thrown pitch of his career, just a few ticks off of triple digits.
And now, after that upswing, things have gone quite downhill. The Giants announced on Saturday that Birdsong was dealing with forearm discomfort, which is never a good sign. And on Sunday they revealed the results of his MRI: a Grade 2 UCL sprain and forearm strain in his pitching arm.
Needless to say, that’s not good news, especially for a pitch.
Birdsong is headed for a second opinion from Dr. Keith Meister, and then he and the Giants staff will decide what course of action to take. Tony Vitello said that nothing is certain until they see what Meister has to say, but that the likely discussion is whether to have Birdsong head for surgery, or to have him rehab for a few months and see how his body responds. It seems overwhelmingly likely that we don’t see Birdsong until the summer at the earliest, and quite possible that he’ll be shelved for all of 2026.
It’s the unfortunate reality for pitchers, especially in the modern era, where everyone is taught to throw as hard as possible (it’s certainly a bit ironic, and perhaps not coincidental, that Birdsong’s injury popped up right after hitting his highest velocity). And while there’s no good time to be sidelined, it’s an especially painful timeline for Birdsong. According to Evan Webeck, pitching coach Justin Meccage had just told reporters that he thought Birdsong had put it all together following his recent outing.
Hopefully the second opinion results in good news for Birdsong, but sadly it looks like we won’t be seeing him for quite a while.
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