San Francisco Giants Rising Star Reveals TikTok Helped Create Dominant Pitch

The San Francisco Giants have a rising star in their bullpen, and he could end up becoming a mainstay in the league thanks in part to one dominant pitch.

Giants pitcher Hayden Birdsong is one of the early adopters of the kick-change grip for his changeup, and the results have been great.

In a recent interview for MLB, Birdsong revealed that he found the pitch from an unlikely source; the social media app TikTok.

"Literally I watched a video, it was last spring training, on TikTok. I could throw a changeup at the time. It was not good, just really a bad fastball. Started to mess around with grips, found that grip. I was like let's throw it," said Birdsong.

He also added that his first every strikeout came on this pitch.

The fact that the youngster was able to find the grip on TikTok just goes to show that this new generation of baseball players have so many ways to grow their games.

This new kick-change is sweeping the baseball world, much like how the sweeper has in the past couple of years. With more and more players debuting the dominant pitch, expect even more players to adopt it.

Birdsong has two very good pitches with his kick-change and his cutter, but his cutter has been thrown much less this year.

The pitch mix is something that players are constantly tinkering with so his cutter could make a return at some point.

The kick-change wasn't incorporated much until he got to the league.

In 2024, he threw it 4.2% of the time at the Triple-A level. As a Major Leaguer, he has thrown it 18.2% of the time.

It's not hard to understand why he throws it so much more, having unlocked this new grip. This year, it has a Stuff+ of 118. That is the 10th-best mark for a changeup across the league.

Players above him include the likes of Paul Skenes and Tarik Skubal, so it is pretty good company to keep.

Birdsong's Pitching+ stats are up across the board this year. He may not have cracked the starting rotation out of spring training, but he could play his way back into it soon.

Through his first three appearances, he has pitched seven scoreless innings with a 1.143 WHIP. His strikeout numbers are slightly down with a 7.7K/9, but that is likely a sample size thing.

He pitched 12 innings this spring and gave up just one run with a K/9 of 13.5. His 2025 has been red-hot and there has been little reason to worry about him on the mound.

The 23-year-old will likely be the next man up in the rotation if a spot opens up.

He is just pitching too well to stay a reliever for long given that he can have the lengthier outings.