Want the latest Bay Area sports news delivered to your inbox? Sign up here to receive regular email blasts, plus “The Dime,” our twice-weekly sports newsletter.
For the first time this season, the Giants made a rotation change when Hayden Birdsong started Tuesday instead of Jordan Hicks. One day later, they were planning to make another.
Justin Verlander is shelved for a couple of weeks with pectoral nerve irritation and is going on the 15-day injured list, meaning someone needs to take his turn in the rotation and start Saturday in Washington.
One player in the clubhouse said he thinks it’ll be Kyle Harrison. Another possibility is Hicks, but he already pitched his way out of the rotation. Also, there’s prospect Carson Whisenhunt, who’s dominating at Triple-A Sacramento.
Whoever it’ll be, and Harrison seems to make the most sense, it’s nice to have options.
Subscribe to The Dime
News, gossip, and inside-the-locker-room access for Bay Area sports fans, every Friday and Monday.
“I think it’s something that years past we haven’t had,” said ace Logan Webb, who struggled in Wednesday’s 8-4 loss to the Royals. “You went through stretches where there were only two of us or three of us. And now we have eight or nine of us who can start a game, which is nice to have.”
Webb’s big number isn’t farfetched. Let’s take a look. The five-man rotation in the first seven weeks was Webb, Verlander, Robbie Ray, Hicks, and Landen Roupp. Birdsong has joined the mix. Harrison could be next. That’s seven. Whisenhunt makes eight. Others could start in a pinch.
It’s a far cry from 2023 when the Giants were opener-happy, employing openers a whopping 35 times and, in one bizarre stretch, depending on three openers and just two starters, which proved unsustainable.
The 2025 Giants haven’t had a need or desire to open a game with a reliever, and that’s probably a wise thing for all concerned. It means there’s rotation depth. It also means the relievers, who have collectively posted the majors’ lowest ERA at 2.66, are set in their roles.
“I do think the rotation’s in good hands,” said Verlander, who plans to accompany the team on the road for its nine-game journey through Washington, Detroit, and Miami.
The Giants finished their homestand 5-4 despite a three-game sweep of the A’s. They lost two of three to both the Diamondbacks and Royals, who knocked Webb around for six runs (three earned) on 10 hits in a season-low four innings, a rare clunker for the right-hander.
Through 50 games, the Giants are 29-21 and rubbing elbows with the powerhouse Dodgers and Padres in the National League West, but they’re playing .500 ball (17-17) in their last 34 games.
“It’s not a horrible place to be,” manager Bob Melvin said. “You’re never really happy with where you are. You always feel like there’s a little bit more in there. Offensively, we feel there’s more in there, too.”
The Giants have scored 12 runs in their last five games and continue to have issues against left-handed starters. They slipped to 4-12 in games in which the opposing team starts a lefty. To be fair, the lefty who started Wednesday, Daniel Lynch, was an opener and worked just 1 ⅔ innings.
On the flip side, the Giants are a majors-best 25-9 against right-handed starters. Nevertheless, the lefty obstacle is something the Giants need to overcome. As Melvin said, “We have to be better against lefties, we really do, or every team is going to look to throw a lefty at us.”
Help could be on the way. Jerar Encarnación, who’s eligible to be activated from the 60-day injured list Monday, likely won’t join the Giants until their series in Miami May 30-June 1. First, the 6-foot-4 slugger will take some swings at the team’s Arizona facility then get time at Sacramento.
Encarnación might not have an extended big-league track record (he was playing in the Mexican League early last season), but the Giants highly value his power potential and plan to play him at first base against lefty starters.
“It’s another big bat in our lineup and a guy who’s hit lefties in the past and hit lefties last year,” Melvin said. “We don’t just target him for lefties, but it’s another big bat in our lineup with some power.”
Verlander wasn’t right physically in his last start as he had velocity and command issues while walking a season-high five batters. He played catch early Wednesday to determine how he felt. While the injury isn’t considered a long-term problem or linked to his neck irritation from last season, it’s big enough for him to miss a start.
Instead of skipping Verlander one turn, the Giants chose to shut down the 42-year-old to preserve him for the rest of the season. He has pitched several winnable games, but has yet to snag a win as a Giant.
“If I skipped one start, I’m fairly positive I could make the next start. Am I 100%? No,” Verlander said. “I think that’s the problem, not being able to say 100%. The best thing is to give yourself a blow and take 15 days and get it behind you.”
It would be an easy transition to fill Verlander’s spot with Harrison, who has regained his high-end velocity and is a projected long-term rotation piece anyway.
“If we need him to start at any point in time soon,” Melvin said, “I still think he can give us over 50 pitches. We’ll see where it goes.”