Hayden Birdsong

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Hayden Birdsong

Hayden Birdsong

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Biographical Information[edit]

Pitcher Hayden Birdsong pitched for the Lake Land College Lakers in 2020 after graduating from Mattoon High School. In 15 innings over four games (three starts), his ERA was 7.20, but he allowed 5 unearned runs in addition to his 12 earned runs. On the bright side, he struck out 20 men. He moved onto Eastern Illinois University for 2021 as a redshirt freshman, but was hit hard again. His ERA was 9.76, and he surrendered 7 home runs in 27 2/3 innings. He also pitched 18 games for the Danville Dans of the summer collegiate Prospect League that year; his ERA was lower, but still on the high side at 4.93. But he was still striking people out at an impressive clip. His sophomore year at Eastern Illinois was a vast improvement over his prior two seasons. His ERA dropped all the way down to 3.35, he was walking fewer hitters, giving up much fewer hits, and his already-good strikeout rate improved - he struck out a whopping 13 men per nine innings. He had previously been a starter with a few relief appearances sprinkled in, but 18 of his 20 games were out of the bullpen that year. He also made six relief appearances in the Northwoods League for the Lakeshore Chinooks.

The San Francisco Giants saw enough to select him in the 6th round of the 2022 Amateur Draft. His first game was on August 13th for the ACL Giants Black; he pitched a scoreless, hitless inning of relief against the ACL Giants Orange in which he struck out 2. After three more relief appearances, he was moved up to the Low-A California League's San Jose Giants, for whom he made three relief appearances. Overall for the 2022 season, he pitched 11 2/3 innings in seven games with a 3.09 ERA, a 1.114 WHIP, and 23 strikeouts against 3 walks. (All 3 walks came with San Jose.)

He began 2023 back in San Jose, but with a new role: starting pitcher. He had previously been basically a two-pitch pitcher - fastball/curveball. But he now had a changeup and slider, and his fastball velocity also improved by a few miles per hour. The Giants organization wanted to see if his new repertoire would translate into success as a starter. His season debut on April 7th wasn't promising, as he allowed 2 runs (both earned) on 3 hits, 2 walks and a hit batter in 2 innings. However, all 6 outs he recorded were strikeouts. He settled in after that, though the Giants decided to stretch him out slowly and he never pitched more that 4 innings in any subsequent start in San Jose. After a rough outing on May 31st, his next two games came in relief, though he tossed 4 innings in each of them. Then on June 13th, the Giants moved him up to High-A ball with the Eugene Emeralds. His first game with the Emeralds was a June 17th start on the road against the Spokane Indians - who led the Northwest League in almost every major offensive statistical category. He threw 4 innings, walked 2 and allowed 2 hits, but no runs. His Emeralds crushed the Indians 11-4, but since he didn't pitch 5 innings, he didn't qualify for the win. (Tanner Kiest got the win in relief). On July 4th, he pitched the first five innings of a combined no-hitter against the Tri-City Dust Devils, striking out 11 batters; he did not figure in the decision as the game was still scoreless when he left in favor of Mat Olsen, who received credit for the 3-0 win. He went 2-2, 3.25 in 7 games with Eugene, earning another promotion, this one to the AA Richmond Flying Squirrels. He pitched another 8 games there, going 0-3. Overall in this whirlwind season, he went a combined 2-5, 3.31 in 28 games (25 starts), logging 100 2/3 innings and striking out 149 opponents.

He began 2024 back at Richmond and did well in 11 starts, going 4-2, 2.05 to earn a promotion to AAA and the Sacramento River Cats. He barely had time to make two starts there, winning one and getting a no-decision in the other, before getting the call to The Show. He made his big league debut on June 26th, starting for San Francisco against the Chicago Cubs. He pitched 4 2/3 innings, allowing 3 runs on 6 hits, including a solo homer by Seiya Suzuki in the 5th, walking three and striking out five. He did not figure in the decision as the Giants won the game, 4-3.

Related Sites[edit]

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