Also, winning streak.
There was a magical feeling in the air at Oracle Park on Wednesday night. That sort of foggy je ne sais quoi that baseball romantically slaps you with from time to time.
This is all conjecture on my part, by the way. I wasn’t actually at 24 Willie Mays Plaza. I was sitting at home, where the tickets are free, the beer is $18 cheaper, and my tailbone is not on the losing end of a one-sided fight with a plastic seat.
But if I can easily imagine a mystical and enchanting feeling through my dusty computer monitor, then I’m left to believe that something special wafted through the scent of raw garlic and fried potatoes at the ballpark on Wednesday night.
It’s always a special moment when a player sees their dreams actualized and makes their MLB debut, which has been happening with alarming frequency lately for the San Francisco Giants: despite a public outcry that the current regime is allergic to youth, a staggering 23 players have made their MLB debuts in a crisp Giants jersey since the start of the 2023 season. That’s almost exactly 0.1% of all the players in Major League history, debuting for the Giants in the last season and a half.
But specialness takes many forms. With respect to the recently-departed Trenton Brooks and Raymond Burgos, the specialness of an expendable journeyman’s MLB debut is focused on the remarkable resilience of the individual. It is taking a moment to celebrate the materialization of a lifelong dream that, until a few hours prior, was always facing long odds to ever occur.
There is a different specialness entirely – a selfish specialness, if we’re being honest – when a player such as … oh, well, to pull a random name out of a Baseball Reference page, Hayden Birdsong makes his MLB debut. It’s the sort of specialness that allows you to dream a decade into the future, and that prompts the broadcast team to display graphics such as this one:
Before proceeding, I feel compelled to issue a sportswriter’s sort of surgeon general’s warning. Special debuts do not have to beget special futures, and non-special debuts need not beget non-special outcomes.
Sometimes a Brooks-esque DFAable journeyman turns into Mike Yastrzemski. Sometimes a good-not-great prospect takes a few years doggy-paddling in the deep end of the pool before they turn into Logan Webb. Sometimes writers who shall not be named craft headlines such as A new era arrives as Casey Schmitt dazzles in debut, and then look idiotic a year later. Perhaps that same writer will look just as idiotic in another year for chastising his own headline, not that I’ll be around to see that.
Birdsong made his MLB debut on Wednesday night, after a mere two outings in AAA. Like so many players last year – Schmitt, yes, but also Patrick Bailey – Birdsong’s call to the bigs was forced slightly prematurely by a roster with far more injured starting pitchers than healthy ones. The Giants may believe in Birdsong’s arm, but they don’t believe in it a burn-a-40-man-roster-spot-even-though-Blake-Snell-and-Kyle-Harrison-are-healthy amount.
And yet, by the same token, there’s a reason that it was Birdsong taking the mound on Wednesday night. There’s a reason it was Birdsong rather than an already-rostered starter like Mason Black or Kai-Wei Teng; a reason it was Birdsong rather than a call-up for fellow exciting pitching prospects like Carson Whisenhunt or Carson Seymour; a reason it was Birdsong rather than another expendable journeyman to fill the Daulton Jefferies Memorial Roster Spot.
It was Birdsong because the Giants believe he gives them the best chance to get outs against Major League hitters. It was Birdsong because the Giants believe he’ll need to be rostered this year anyway when he invariably forces the issue after a more conventional amount of time in AAA. It was Birdsong because he has the vast repertoire and electric fastball to, at worst, stick as a fiery bullpen arm if the cadre of acclaimed starting pitchers ever arrives as advertised.
Let’s pause for a quick detour. Here are the 15 players that the Giants most recently drafted in the sixth round before taking Birdsong there in 2022. In reverse chronological order: Seth Lonsway, Dilan Rosario, P.J. Hilson, Bryce Johnson, Gio Brusa, Steven Duggar, Skyler Ewing, Nick Vander Tuig, Stephen Johnson, Josh Osich, Mike Kickham, Matt Graham, Eric Surkamp, Mike Ambort, and Ryan Rohlinger.
That’s not a knock on those players, a few of whom had decent MLB careers. And it’s not a knock on the Giants’ ability to draft. And it’s certainly not a splash of cold water to try and make you think Birdsong will fit snuggly in with those names when all is said and done. It’s merely a gentle reminder that, as we all get lost in the daydream of Birdsong winning seven Cy Youngs in the next five seasons, we should appreciate just how successful his career has already been. The odds have been beaten. Now comes the fun stuff.
Anytime a pitcher is called up from the Minors, someone makes the salient point that there’s a massive talent difference between AAA and the Majors. That is true and important, but we usually forget that the talent gap cuts both ways.
And so it was that Birdsong took a Major League mound for the first time in his career, immediately got ahead 0-2 against much-better-than-a-AAA-hitter Nico Hoerner, and then caught a little too much plate on his third pitch, which Horner grounded sharply towards the gap.
Nico Hoerner: better than a Minor Leaguer.
But you know who else is? Matt Chapman, who dove to the ground, got punched in the ribs by the dirt, hopped to his feet, and threw out Hoerner to give his young pitcher his first career out. No, Hayden, they don’t make batters like that in the Pacific Coast League. But with all respect to Schmitt, they don’t make third basemen like that in the Pacific Coast League, either.
Invigorated by the defense behind him, Birdsong then recorded his first career strikeout against Michael Busch – a left-handed hitter who has been Chicago’s best batter this year – and then retired former MVP Cody Bellinger to make it three-up, three-down in his first inning.
It didn’t stay that smooth, but it did stay that impressive. Birdsong would end the night with nine baserunners and three runs tagged to his name in 4.2 innings, but he made believers out of everyone by flashing not just electricity (he struck out five batters and routinely made people look silly) but astounding composure.
The next two innings were shining examples. In the second inning he issued back-to-back one-out walks to Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki, needing just nine pitches to issue eight balls. You’d excuse him for letting the moment get to him and falling apart. He wouldn’t be the first nor the last.
Instead, he came right back with a three-pitch strikeout of Dansby Swanson. And while he did allow a run to score, it was on a seeing-eye single by Pete Crow-Armstrong, and was followed by a swift third and final out.
In the third he allowed back-to-back singles to lead off the inning and then calmly retired the next three batters, with the lead runner never making it to third base.
The fourth brought about weirdness. After Michael Conforto (who, it’s worth noting, still represents a sizable defensive talent gap over what Birdsong is used to in AA and AAA, even if he’s a subpar defender by MLB standards) enthusiastically nabbed Christopher Morel trying to stretch a single into a double, Birdsong issued a two-out walk to Crow-Armstrong. A perfect 13-for-13 stealing bases this year, Crow-Armstrong attempted to nab second while Miguel Amaya swung and feebly ground the ball up the middle. The slowness of the hit – mixed with a running start from one of the sport’s fastest players – meant that Crow-Armstrong scored standing. From first base. On a single.
They won’t all do that, Hayden. I promise.
The lone stain on a night where Birdsong allowed barely any hard contact came in the fifth inning. After recording the first two outs, Birdsong was primed to finish the fifth inning, and place himself in line for a win in his debut. But Suzuki had other visions, and smashed a solo home run to center field, which not only erased the lead Birdsong had but also knocked him out of the game.
He left to a standing ovation from a crowd that, thankfully, recognized the process as being far more successful than the results on this particular day.
Bird brought it pic.twitter.com/wovGpz2onn
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) June 27, 2024
It is perhaps silly to say that a player who gave up three runs in less than five innings is the catalyst for a win, but silliness and truthfulness are not mutually exclusive. The Giants alternate options would have surely been worse. Birdsong ate innings and he did so fairly effectively, and both the ballpark and the dugout seemed invigorated by what he brought to the table. You can’t measure that, but you sure can feel it. Even through the TV.
And so it seemed only right that it was his fellow youths – exciting young players who hope to form a brilliant young core alongside Birdsong – who provided winning plays left and right.
Bailey, who called a fantastic game for Birdsong – and the bullpen – ended the sixth inning by back-picking Morel at first base.
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) June 27, 2024
He also drew a leadoff walk to open the second inning, and would score on a booming home run by Michael Conforto.
First, MC said boom pic.twitter.com/p76FNKptwX
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) June 27, 2024
Four pitches after that Conforto home run, David Villar took on dead center and wasn’t even challenged. It was just the second time this year that the Giants had gone back-to-back.
Then, David said BOOM pic.twitter.com/D25oDnBexN
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) June 27, 2024
After losing the lead in the top of the fifth, Birdsong’s brief teammate in Sacramento, Luis Matos, reclaimed the lead with a solo home run of his own, setting the final score of 4-3 in print en route to his second consecutive multi-hit day.
HIIII, @LuisMatoss24 pic.twitter.com/wqe92jA2Lr
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) June 27, 2024
In the eighth inning (after a nine-pitch seventh inning by another youngster, Erik Miller), Tyler Rogers got a crucial double play when Brett Wisely handled a ridiculous hop with enough coordination and composure to still turn two. The game would end when Wisely would one-up himself, handling an obscenely-difficult grounder in the hole, and firing off a throw that Villar dug out of the dirt to send everyone home happy.
WISELY FOR THE WIN pic.twitter.com/XsIyLUgAmz
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) June 27, 2024
And yet, for all the clamoring for a young core, we’re reminded that the ideal is a blend of electric youngsters and proven veteran talent. Birdsong was exciting beyond compare. Matos and Villar and Wisely and Bailey and Miller were brilliant. Heliot Ramos played a smooth center field, knocked a single, and hit a flyout that would have left 23 ballparks.
All of that is true. Equally true is that Conforto had the most important hit of the game, and one of the most important defensive plays. That Rogers not only pitched a scoreless setup inning, but picked off a runner to end it. That Luke Jackson recovered from his recent foibles to record four clean outs, that Doval shut the door in the ninth, that Chapman made brilliant plays all night long, that Webb stood next to Birdsong chatting him up after the rookie had called it a day.
GOT ANOTHER ONE ‼️ pic.twitter.com/0OCxC96UIr
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) June 27, 2024
But the excitement of the youngsters seemed to carry the way, and the result was that the Giants, for lack of a friendlier expression, did to the Cubs what is usually done to them. Chicago didn’t steal a base, but they were thrown out on the basepaths three times, including twice to end an inning. They hit just 1-7 with runners in scoring position. They had just one home run to San Francisco’s three.
Too often you’ve watched the Giants this year and thought, “Why can’t we hit home runs like that? Why do we make so many outs on the basepaths? Where are our high-impact youngsters?”
Wednesday was for you, then, loyal fan using the royal “we.” A youth movement, compounded by a veteran movement. Maybe this time it will work.