Where Giants' rotation stands after Hicks' shortest start of '25

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Giants have largely resisted the urge to shake things up amid tough stretches this year, but they’ve reached the point where they may have to consider making a notable change to their starting rotation.

Jordan Hicks lasted only two-plus innings in an 8-7 loss that sealed a series defeat to the division rival D-backs on Wednesday afternoon at Oracle Park, creating some questions about his status in the rotation moving forward.

Hicks was charged with five runs on seven hits in his shortest start of the season, which pushed his ERA to 6.55 over his first nine starts of 2025. Since firing six scoreless innings against the Astros in his season debut on March 31, Hicks is 0-5 with a 7.55 ERA (33 earned runs over 39 1/3 innings) over his last eight outings.

With two young starters -- Hayden Birdsong and Kyle Harrison -- currently pitching out of the bullpen, the Giants certainly have some alternatives to Hicks, though Birdsong didn’t have his best day on Wednesday, either.

Birdsong was brought in to relieve Hicks in the top of the third, but he allowed a pair of inherited runners to score on a three-run home run to Eugenio Suárez and then gave up another two-run shot to Ketel Marte that put the Giants in an 8-2 hole in the fourth.

Even with the shaky outing, Birdsong still has a 2.31 ERA with 25 strikeouts over 23 1/3 innings in 11 relief appearances this year, which would likely put him first in line to step into the rotation if an opening arises in the coming weeks. Manager Bob Melvin wasn’t ready to make any official pronouncements on Hicks’ standing directly after the game, however.

“Look, the game is just over,” Melvin said. “I thought [Hicks’] stuff was pretty good again. Hard ground balls that find some holes. At some point in time, you’d think they’d be hit at somebody.”

Hicks’ bumpy start has been a stark contrast to the early success he enjoyed in 2024, when he went 4-1 with a 2.33 ERA over his first 11 starts after making the transition from the bullpen to the rotation. Still, the 28-year-old right-hander’s effectiveness waned as he struggled to handle the sizable jump in innings in his first season as a full-time starter. He ended up posting a 6.42 ERA over his next nine starts before moving back to the bullpen for the second half of the year.

Despite the uneven results, the Giants remained committed to giving Hicks a chance to continue to start in 2025, the second year of the four-year, $44 million contract he signed last January. Hicks added about 15 pounds of muscle to his lower half to try to build his stamina this year and has shown he can maintain his high-octane stuff, but he hasn’t had much to show for it so far.

Hicks surrendered a first-inning solo shot to Marte and then faced more trouble in the second, when he gave up RBI singles to Geraldo Perdomo and Alek Thomas that extended the D-backs’ lead to 3-0. The next batter -- No. 9 hitter Jose Herrera -- then tried to bunt before Hicks walked him to load the bases for Corbin Carroll, who lined into an unassisted double play. Hicks struck out Marte swinging on a splitter to end the inning, but he was pulled after allowing the first two batters he faced in the third to reach on a double and a single.

“I got the ground balls I wanted,” Hicks said. “They’re finding holes. I don’t really know what else to do about that. It’s just baseball. For me, it’s a tough pill to swallow, not being able to go as many pitches as I wanted to go today. I know we have an off-day tomorrow, and we have a deep bullpen. I take pride in going deeper into games this year. It’s tough to get pulled that early, but it’s not my decision, and we keep moving forward.”

While Hicks has been getting dinged up, some of the advanced metrics suggest there’s been an element of bad luck involved. He entered Wednesday with a 3.55 expected ERA and a 60.8% ground-ball percentage, the fourth-highest mark in the Majors. Still, Hicks knows he’ll have to be more consistent with his actual results to maintain his hold on a starting job this year.

“At the end of the day, I’m just going to go out there every time and put my best foot forward,” Hicks said. “That’s really all I can do, shut the book on the bad outings and then grow from the good ones. Take the positives from the bad games. I feel like there was a high percentage of ground balls today, and that is ideal for me as a ground-ball pitcher. It just didn’t find the guys. Just got to live with it and move on.”