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Young Giants pitcher Hayden Birdsong to undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery
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- Young Giants pitcher Hayden Birdsong to undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery
Young Giants pitcher Hayden Birdsong to undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO — A year ago at this time, Hayden Birdsong looked like a future frontline starter or closer for the Giants. But the young right-hander now will need to wait until 2027 to get back on a big league mound.
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The Giants announced Thursday that Birdsong will undergo Tommy John surgery next week in Dallas. The 24-year-old felt discomfort in his arm on the second-to-last pitch of a relief appearance on March 10 and an MRI revealed a Grade 2 strain of his forearm and a UCL sprain. The procedure will be done by Dr. Keith Meister, who was consulted this week as the Giants went over Birdsong's options.
Birdsong said over the weekend that he felt an odd sensation, similar to a rip, when he threw a curveball in his final spring outing. He called it a "freak" thing that just happened on one pitch. He did not deal with arm issues last year or earlier this spring.
"Obviously I'm not happy about it, but it's one of those things that I feel like everybody kind of goes through at this point," Birdsong said on Sunday. "I wish it wasn't right now. I wish I could throw a couple of seasons before something like this happens."
There never is a good time for a pitcher, especially an up-and-coming young one, to need elbow surgery, but the Birdsong diagnosis stung a bit more because of how excited everyone was about his progress in recent weeks. Birdsong made changes to his delivery and he was 97-99 mph in that relief appearance before feeling something on a breaking ball.
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"He was in the strike zone with four pitches, so we were really encouraged about where he's at and the progress that he's made," pitching coach Justin Meccage said last week.
While the Giants still have long-term hopes that Birdsong can be a reliable starter, there were some in the organization who thought he could help solve their bullpen problems at the start of this season. He excelled in that role early last year and has the swing-and-miss ability that this current group is mostly missing.
Without Birdsong, Trevor McDonald and Carson Whisenhunt look like the likeliest options to provide rotation depth when it's first needed. Blade Tidwell and Carson Seymour are options, as well, although both could be needed in the bullpen. McDonald could begin the year as a reliever, possibly mimicking Birdsong's path from last season.
"I think the depth — if you're just talking about the whole group — is still strong," manager Tony Vitello said last week. "That's fresh on my brain is talking about the competitiveness we still have within that group on who belongs where, who can do what, who maybe is actually ahead of this guy. We'd love to have Birdie be a part of that group, because he does kind of have a little bit of ability to swing back and forth between starting and bullpen. We'll dive into who provides that depth on the starting roles."
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Tommy John procedures have become common in the game, but the Giants generally have had good luck in that department over the years. The last comparable pitcher to Birdsong to undergo surgery was right-hander Tyler Beede , who needed the surgery in the spring of 2020. Beede was 26 at the time and fighting for a rotation job, but he ended up missing all of the shortened season and then getting back to the big leagues in July of 2021.
Johnny Cueto was the most notable case for the Giants over the past decade. Logan Webb and Keaton Winn are among the Giants who have needed Tommy John in the minors in recent years. While there have been a lot of advancements in terms of rehabbing major elbow injuries, the timing of the procedure means Birdsong is almost certain to miss the start of 2027.
