Hayden Birdsong shows off his STUFF in MLB DEBUT!! Every Pitch

Hayden Birdsong’s debut highlighting the every pitch he threw. All pitch selections are from Baseball Savant. His stat line was 4.2 IP, 3 ER, 5 SO, 3 BB, and 6 hits. He ended with no decision. The game ended 4-3 Giants.
Pitch abbreviations:
4SFB - 4-Seam Fastball
CHG - Changeup
SL - Slider
CB - Curveball
Game from June 26, 2024.

[@UpAndComingMLB]

Here are my thoughts on Birdsong:
Birdsong has had a rapid ascent to the majors after getting drafted in the 6th round in 2022. Some of that is because of the Giants only having 2 other starters right now, which caused them to have 2 straight bullpen games. Anyways, Birdsong was fine in his MLB debut, but I’m not sure if he’ll have much success in future outings. The fastball is surprisingly very hittable despite good velocity around the mid-90s. Most of that is due to the well below average induced vertical break and only okay horizontal break. Fortunately, Birdsong seems to understand this and uses the fastball almost exclusively in the upper part of the zone. That helps create more whiffs and limit hard contact he would have if he lived all around the zone with the fastball. Birdsong also has quite good secondaries, the slider and curveball being above average. There is slight concern with his stuff all having a very similar look, with the gyro slider and 12-6 curveball. His changeup helps give a slightly different look, as it has a small bit of horizontal movement but still is more vertical. I was impressed with his changeup usage, he seemed very comfortable with it and he located it well in the bottom of the zone. Unfortunately, Birdsong has below average control of his pitches for a starter and misses by a few inches pretty commonly. This will limit the innings he’ll be able to pitch since he is throwing a lot of pitches, but it’s not the worst thing ever because he does have good enough stuff that he can get hitters to chase out of the zone. Overall, I think Birdsong has more of a reliever look right now, and I don’t predict (like I mentioned earlier) he will be a very good starter right now in the MLB.

[@X56th_SFS]

I think you perfectly worded his intelligence on the mound. He has a good head on his shoulders.

[@HKim0072]

Going to reserve judgement until next year. Kyle Harrison was shaky at times last year, but you could tell he had really good stuff. Birdsong is up in the MLB way too early. Giants just ran out of choices in starting pitching.