Player review: Hayden Birdsong

2024 stats: 16 GS, 72 IP, 4.75 ERA, 4.65 FIP, 7.1 H/9, 1.4 HR/9, 11.0 K/9, 5.4 BB/9

Hayden Birdsong turned 23 on August 30th.

He’s the spitting image of my college friend Antony when he was 20: those wide-set eyes and Cabbage Patch Kid nose... Youth incarnate. Youth that can throw letter-high cheese averaging 96 MPH. Could Antony do that? No, Antony could not do that — though in his early-20s, Antony did win his B-League intramural basketball championship, as well as pass his undergraduate film photography class.

Could Hayden do that?

The San Francisco Giants rotation already has four arms in Logan Webb, Robbie Ray, Jordan Hicks and Kyle Harrison that feel pretty established. Pitching is the…