The Giants named Landen Roupp their fifth starter to begin the season, manager Bob Melvin tells reporters (link via Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area). Hayden Birdsong, who was the remaining competitor for that spot, also made the team but will start the year in relief.
Roupp breaks camp for the second straight year. The righty pitched mostly out of the bullpen during his rookie season. He started four of 23 appearances and tallied 50 1/3 innings of 3.58 ERA ball. Roupp’s 21.7% strikeout percentage and 47.2% grounder rate were close to league average. A 12% walk rate was the main red flag, but he has thrown plenty of strikes this spring.
The 26-year-old Roupp only walked one of the 46 batters he faced in camp. He hit a couple batters as well but only put 6.5% of batters faced aboard for free. Roupp struck out 14 while surrendering eight hits and five runs through 12 innings. That earns him his first Opening Day rotation spot behind Logan Webb, Justin Verlander, Robbie Ray and Jordan Hicks.
Birdsong had an even more impressive Spring Training. The 6’4″ righty ran an 18:0 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 12 innings of one-run ball. He could hardly have pitched better, but he’ll work in relief for the first time since his 2022 draft year. Birdsong started all 16 MLB appearances after earning his first major league call last June. He turned in a 4.75 ERA through 72 innings. Birdsong punched out nearly 28% of opposing hitters but walked 13.7% of batters faced. It’s been a similar pattern throughout his minor league career. The Eastern Illinois product has a 34.4% strikeout rate against a 13.7% walk percentage in the minors.
Kyle Harrison entered camp as the favorite for the fifth starter role. The Giants optioned him to Triple-A Sacramento over the weekend, in large part because a virus delayed his ramp-up this spring. They could have optioned Birdsong as well, but his exhibition performance was so loud that he left the team little choice but to carry him on the MLB roster in some capacity. Pavlovic writes that the Giants will use Birdsong in multi-inning appearances to keep him stretched out. There’s a good chance he’ll get a rotation opportunity before long as injuries arise throughout the season.
Good. I’ve been a fan of his for awhile. I see some sense in Roupp starting with Birdsong in the pen. Roupp had been groomed as a starter and, it will be good for Birdsong to get experience coming in as a reliever.
Although I thought it would be Birdsong, I’m happy for Roupp Landen in the rotation.
Yeah, it wouldn’t have surprised me if it had been Birdsong. But I’m good with whomever they decided on.
Me too. And with how it goes with pitchers, I’m sure Roupp, Birdsong, and even Harrison will all end up in the rotation at some point.
Birdsong reportedly wouldn’t stop chirping about missing out on the rotation spot.
Hardy har.
It’s true, he tweeted it.
The problem was that he was crowing about making the rotation before it happened. Talk about counting your chickens before they hatch…
Looks like everyone’s flocking to the comments with bird puns
Bird jokes. Heard ’em all.
Do you gesture the bird often ? Any cloaca jokes? Asking for a friend.
My beak is sealed
If you’ve heard one cloaca joke, you’ve heard them all.
Just let them throw in tandem.
Good work, Mr Roupp. Well earned.
Horrible take couldn’t disagree more. Birdsong will end up in the rotation by the end of the year and Roupp in the pen. How could you not see that you must be halfway across the world on a goat farm
Mutin frugal in 1…2…
Frugal mutation in progress!
Again with the Goats. Weird.
I’m from Australia, not Africa. Next time, go with sheep and/or cows. A little less embarrassing maybe.
I think the more odd aspect about the frugalfarhan (gourmet) is that they think goat farm is some kind of insult.
It’s become clear, frugie wishes he could attend to a goat farm.
The most horrible takes are the ones that claim to be able to know what’s going to happen in the future, and thinking they’re smarter, and more knowledgeable than the PBO, Manager, and coaches, making the decisions.
Agreed.
Nothing but crystal ball clowns.
Birdsong not getting this job is comical
Not as comical as understanding that a very talented pitcher cannot be a reliable starter when they have a BB rate that has been consistently close to 14 %.
Not* understanding
Because he’s nothing but a ducking fodger with weird sissy hand moves.
Birdsong didn’t walk a single batter this spring. He changed his footing on the mound because of advice from Verlander. I don’t really see a good reason to give Roupp a shot over him.
To be honest they should go to a 6 man rotation! Both pitchers earned it!! Loupe will have a good year but I love Birdsong and believe that he’s the real deal
Roupp is exceptional and is a little older and needs to settle in as a starter. Birdsong will get his opportunity this year, don’t worry. He’s gonna be in the rotation.
Carries momentum from last season into spring. Not the biggest fan myself but man he earned and deserved it.
Baseballs not a game where you make your product angry and demand production out of that.
Doesn’t typically work but hey buster thinks he knows what he’s doing and I stands on mountain that he doesn’t have a clue in the least yet.
Why? Roupp is a legitimate starting pitcher, and he’s already done a tour as a reliever.
You play the hot hand. Birdsong was is. Now he’s over the organization in any negotiation capacity. Not a smart move here.
Hot hand? Are you basing that on their last game? Cuz Birdsongs “hot hand” got lit up. Try a smarter comment.
Honestly, without looking into who specifically each pitcher faced, I can’t actually say which of Roupp or Birdsong had the better spring. I’m inclined to say they performed about the same, pending a more granular analysis.
There’s so little signal in 15ish regular season innings. Spring innings are only about 70% as useful for analysis according to Dan Szymborski.
Brad Johnson, Totally agree, which is why we should trust the decision of the Giants’ staff. They’ve been watching all spring, and know better than fans do what to look for. I’ve been a fan of Roupp for a while, but had they chosen Birdsong for the 5th spot, I’d have been good with it.
A hiccup doesn’t mean a demotion. Bad messages here. That’s the problem not a bad outing. He’s pitched very well since call to justify that job. More body of work stuff. I bet he got the news before and just had pressure hit him on it. Again stuff the giants don’t need to be doing vs filling out a rotation
You assume a lot when you think the Giants based their decision on a hiccup. I can guarantee you they were looking at everything.
Then you’re assuming even more when you suggest his bad outing was from finding out he was going to the pen. No one can know that. If Birdsong is any kind of player and teammate he’s aware of Roupp’s upside. and is looking to improve on his own performance
Do you really think that Melvin, Posey, and Martinez didn’t make this decision without a lot of thought? They had more to look at than just ST games and stats. They know way more about baseball than I do, I think more than you too.
The fact that Roupp did a lot of successful relief pitching last season and Birdsong pitched well as a starter last year and exceptionally well this spring while never pitching in relief in MLB and not in minors since 202: is why Birdsong should be the starter and Roupp the reliever.
Roupp, like Birdsong, has been a starter almost his entire career until the Giants put him in the pen last season. Since both he and Birdsong were both primarily starters throughout their MiL careers, there’s no difference from Birdsong going into the pen this season, like Roupp did in 2024.
Again, this is a staff decision involving Posey, Melvin, and the coaches, based on, not only what they’ve observed in ST games, but also in workouts, and bullpen sessions. I trust they know better than me, and wouldn’t disagree had they chosen Birdsong. But, if you think you’re right and better equipped to make that decision than the professional baseball people, well… good for you.
Isn’t Birdsong more valuable as a starter in AAA than in relief in the big leagues? He seems to be one of the better starting pitching prospects in the farm and is young. Why the bullpen?
They might use him as an opener/spot starter/long-man. For sure, someone in the present rotation will end up on the IL at some point.
Over the course of 162 both should get plenty of playing time.
I figured it would be Birdsong, though.
Look out world
I don’t get keeping birdsong up when hjelle actually had success as a reliever and long reliever. Just option him. Literally just wasting him in the pen
Literally not.
Roupp’s early-inning groundball tilt could set up games for Hicks (high-variance) and Ray (strikeout-heavy) while sparing a bullpen that ranked 21st in ERA (4.28) last year.
I’m surprised. But I think Birdsong will be in the rotation.
Yeah, injuries are inevitable. It’s good to know Birdsong is the next guy up.
I trust Buster and the collective decision making on this. I’m sure it was discussed thoroughly and there were no coin flips.
Man, not only are you not funny, you couldn’t even read the first paragraph of the article.
Roupp absolutely earned it. At first Birdsong to the bullpen surprised me, but when I think about a guy coming out of the pen who can throw 98 for multiple innings I get it.
I opined (with others) that Roupp could grab the starting spot from Harrison and was told that was crazy. No Harrison backers here now.
Birdsong was lit up his last outing so that probably was the deciding factor.
Both pitchers are going to start either this year or next.
Fun spring in what could be a long year.
Debating the Giants bottom of the rotation starters for the start of the season is barely above arguing about opening day lineups. Every team plays 162 games.
Giants are so garbo lol
Screen name not checking out.
“Garbo lol” really not words, so…
So insightful
Appreciate it