Blade Tidwell’s Injury Latest Potential Blow to Young Giants Pitching Pipeline

On Sunday the San Francisco Giants will end their season. At that point, hopefully, no one else will get hurt.

But, for now, pitcher Blade Tidwell is the latest Giants pitcher to hit the injured list and it’s one of those injuries that’s worth worrying about.

The Giants placed him on the 15-day injured list with a right UCL sprain. The San Jose Mercury-News (subscription required) beat writer Justice De Los Santos reported that it was a “high-grade” UCL sprain. NBC Sports Bay Area’s Alex Pavlovic reported that Tidwell is preparing to meet with Dr. Kenneth H. Akizuki, who is the team’s physician.

It’s possible he’ll need surgery to repair the damage. He left his start on Monday with the injury.

Blade Tidwell’s Unexpected End to 2026

Blade Tidwell came out of the game with a trainer after appearing to suffer an injury pic.twitter.com/UcRkHUOQsq
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) September 22, 2026

The Giants acquired Tidwell from the New York Mets in the Tyler Rogers trade last year. At that point, he had started four games for the Mets but was recovering from an injury and spent the rest of the season at Triple-A Sacramento.

San Francisco called him up in early April and in his debut with the team he recorded his first career save against, of all teams, the Mets. He stayed with the Giants through late April and did not return until early August after San Francisco experienced more injuries and traded two starting pitchers — Robbie Ray and Tyler Mahle — which created openings in the rotation for Tidwell.

He made his starting debut against the Texas Rangers on Aug. 4 and went 0-1 with a 5.26 ERA in August with 21 strikeouts and 10 walks in 25.2 innings. He made four starts in September an was 1-1 with a 4.26 ERA with 15 strikeouts and eight walks in 19 innings.

He will finish the season 1-2 with a 4.45 ERA in 17 games (nine starts) with 46 strikeouts and 21 walks in 56.2 innings.

If Tidwell needs surgery, he will be the fifth young Giants pitchers to see his season end with a surgery on the UCL in his throwing arm.

The list includes José Buttó, who had right arm surgery in April; Carson Whisenhunt, who had Tommy John surgery on his left arm in August; right-hander Trevor McDonald, who had a moderate UCL sprain that led to Tommy John surgery; and right-hander Hayden Birdsong, who underwent Tommy John surgery for a right forearm and UCL sprain before the season started.

A few of those pitchers could be ready to go sometime in 2027. But Tidwell — if he has that sort of surgery — may not be ready until 2028.

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