Landen Roupp’s Recent Performance Thrills Giants After Season’s Awful Start

Nothing stops a losing streak like an ace. But no one has ever associated Landen Roupp with that term. At least not yet.

The San Francisco Giants starter, seen as the No. 5 man in a rotation filled with veterans, had the kind of start that puts an end to losing streaks on Monday night against the San Diego Padres. While the focus was on trying to get the offense going, he made the three runs they the Giants scored early in the game stand.

Roupp pitched six innings of two-hit baseball. He struck out seven and walked two. He threw 88 pitches, 54 of which were strikes. He left the game with a 3-0 lead, and the San Francisco bullpen did enough to protect a 3-2 victory. The start wasn’t just well-timed given the circumstances. Roupp built on a fine spring training in which he refined a pitch that will help him this season and beyond.

Landen Roupp’s Exceptional Start

Landen Roupp pitches 6 scoreless innings and strikes out 7 👌 pic.twitter.com/cdHDUNQbZX
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) March 31, 2026

The right-hander’s numbers didn’t jump off the page in spring training. He went 0-2 with a 4.15 ERA in five games, with four starts. He struck out 15 and walked seven. He allowed a .229 batting average. The Giants also knew he was working on a new grip for his cutter, as he showed The Athletic’s Eno Sarris after Monday’s game.

Landen Roupp velo was up tonight, which he attributed to being further from converting from relief when I asked about it. Cutter is a new grip (went from first to second grip), got a couple whiffs on it. 5 innings, 6 Ks, three baserunners, nice outing. pic.twitter.com/EjrnXDJNzV
— Eno Sarris (@enosarris) March 31, 2026

Gripping the pitch on a different part of the baseball appears to be making a difference.

Roupp only rolled that cutter out 16 times on Monday, but it generated nine swings, a called strike and three whiffs, per Statcast. Of the four primary pitches he threw in the game, it was just as effective by number of whiffs.

He threw his sinker more than a third of the time with an average of 93.5 mph. That pitch was his best of the night, generating 14 swings and 10 called strikes. But that pitch only generated three whiffs, as many as the cutter. It showed that his sinker was setting up his cutter nicely, along with his curveball and change-up. He threw the curveball and the change-up effectively, too.

It added up to a game in which his arsenal induced 41 swings, 13 called strikes, 13 whiffs and 25 called strikes plus whiffs. His velocity remained steady, especially with his secondary pitches. He didn’t throw the cutter until the second inning with an average of 89.3 mph. By the sixth that pitch was averaging 88.4. He lost less than one mile per hour over his final five innings.

It added up to one of the most effective starts of Roupp’s career — and a potential sign of things to come.