Daniel Susac

The Giants optioned left-hander Carson Whisenhunt and catcher Jesús Rodríguez to Triple-A Sacramento, per the club. Neither is particularly surprising, though both young players are ranked among the organization’s top 20 or so prospects.

Whisenhunt, 25, made his MLB debut last year and was tagged for a 5.01 ERA in 23 1/3 innings. He also logged a 4.43 ERA in 107 2/3 Triple-A frames. Formerly ranked among the sport’s top 100 prospects, Whisenhunt saw his strikeout rate plummet by nearly eight percentage points last season, checking in at 20.9%, though he did so with a career-best 7.7% walk rate that vastly outpaced 2024’s mark of 11.3%.

San Francisco signed Adrian Houser and Tyler Mahle this offseason, adding that pair of veterans to a group of incumbents led by Logan Webb, Robbie Ray and Landen Roupp. That quintet will open in rookie manager Tony Vitello’s rotation, with righty JT Brubaker providing a swing option in the ‘pen. Whisenhunt will be among the Giants’ first depth options in the event of an injury to a big league starter, with righties Blade Tidwell and Carson Seymour also in the mix.

As for Rodriguez, he was never going to supplant Patrick Bailey — the sport’s premier defensive catcher — as the starter. That he’s been optioned to Triple-A bodes well for backup Daniel Susac, who’s in camp as a Rule 5 pickup out of the A’s organization (though technically acquired via trade with the Twins). The 24-year-old Susac hit .303/.361/.455 in 36 plate appearances this spring and is poised to make his MLB debut as Bailey’s backup this year.

Rodríguez, 23, came to the Giants as part of the Camilo Doval trade with the Yankees last July. He had a huge spring (.353/.405/.559 in 37 plate appearances) but will head to Sacramento for additional development time. He’s coming off a strong .307/.393/.403 showing in 565 plate appearances spent mostly in Triple-A last year. Sending him to Sacramento will allow Rodríguez to get more regular at-bats than he’d have received as a backup to Bailey, and it also helps the team protect its depth by affording Susac a runway to a big league roster spot rather than placing him on waivers and having to offer him back to the A’s.

Turning back to the pitching side of things, righty Hayden Birdsong is still mulling his options after being diagnosed with a flexor strain and UCL sprain, per Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle. He’s already had a second opinion from Dr. Keith Meister. Birdsong will miss the entire 2026 season if he undergoes surgery, although getting surgery earlier now would allow him to return sooner next year.

A spring standout last year, the now-24-year-old Birdsong was terrific out of the San Francisco bullpen to begin the 2025 season. He broke camp with the club and rattled off 20 1/3 innings with a 1.33 ERA, a 25.9% strikeout rate and a 9.4% walk rate. A move to the rotation didn’t pan out. Birdsong started 10 games for the Giants but was rocked for a 6.17 ERA with greatly diminished rate stats (21.8 K%, 13.7 BB%).

Whether he goes the surgery route or rehab route, Birdsong will be facing a substantial absence. Surgery would sideline him into summer of the 2027 season. Rehab would still presumably cost him months of the current campaign. The vast majority of UCL sprains result in Tommy John or internal brace surgery, though there are exceptions. Braves righty Grant Holmes, for instance, suffered a UCL sprain last summer but went the rest/rehab route and is healthy now, set to break camp as Atlanta’s fourth starter. More often than not, even pitchers who attempt the rehab route ultimately undergo surgery, but it’s not a foregone conclusion.

In other Giants injury news, the team announced that infield prospect Parks Harber will be sidelined for the next four to six weeks due to a Grade 2 hamstring strain. Harber was never going to break camp with the big club — he’s not on the 40-man roster and hasn’t played above High-A — but he’s had a big spring. In 33 plate appearances, he’s slashed .357/.424/.571. The 24-year-old split the 2025 season between the High-A affiliates for the Giants and Yankees (who traded him to San Francisco in that Doval swap), hitting a combined .323/.420/.550 in 343 turns at the plate.

Baseball America ranked Harber 16th among Giants farmhands entering the season, noting that his impressive 2025 campaign put him on the prospect map after going undrafted out of UNC in 2024. He’s a bat-first prospect who’s played all four corner positions — primarily the two infield spots (with a slight edge toward third base over first base). BA’s report touts his offensive prowess while noting that he still needs to work on pulling velocity, as all of his pull-side homers came on breaking pitches and all of his homers off heaters went to center or the opposite field.

Harber will likely open the season in Double-A. His primary positions on the big league club are largely blocked, especially if Bryce Eldridge can prove he’s ready to stick in the majors, but Harber could be a nice righty-swinging corner bat off the bench or perhaps a trade chip when the deadline or next offseason rolls around.