The Giants still have plenty to sort out in their rotation, but Adrian Houser at least gave them something useful to work with before his season shut down. After arriving on a two-year, $22 million deal last December, the 33-year-old went from early-season starter to bullpen weapon, and by the end of the year he had shown he could help in more than one role.
That wasn’t how things began. Houser opened the year with a solid spring, putting up a 3.46 ERA across three Cactus League starts, then looked sharp in his Giants debut on April 1 against the Padres, allowing one earned run over 5 1/3 innings.
The next stretch went sideways fast. Over his following five starts in April, he struggled badly and finished the month with a 7.12 ERA and a 0-3 record.
May brought a brief rebound. Houser picked up his first win in orange and black against the Dodgers on May 12, but the momentum didn’t last.
After his 14th start of the season, a rain-delayed outing in which he gave up two runs in the first inning, the Giants shifted him to the bullpen and kept Trevor McDonald in the rotation. At that point, Houser had a 5.73 ERA and a 1.58 WHIP, and the issues were piling up: first-inning trouble, damage from left-handed hitters, and problems the third time through the order.
The move turned out to be a reset. Over his final 12 appearances, including 10 relief outings and two starts, Houser posted a 1.44 ERA and a 0.89 WHIP in 43 2/3 innings.
He wasn’t used like a typical one-inning reliever, either. Six times he worked at least four innings out of the bullpen, and three times he covered at least five.
In one of those two post-demotion starts, he blanked the Astros over six innings.
Houser later said the bullpen stint helped him clean up his mechanics. He realized his hands had been drifting too close to his body, which threw off his balance and front side. Once he corrected that, his command improved.
Even with that success, he made it clear where he’d rather be. After a game against the Tigers in which an opener worked ahead of him, Houser said he prefers to start and wants to get back into a rotation spot eventually. He did get one more start, against the Reds on August 25, but that outing ended in the second inning because of forearm tightness.
An MRI showed a strain, and the Giants moved him to the 60-day injured list, ending his first season in San Francisco. The team did get one encouraging note out of it: Houser was expected to have a normal offseason and be ready for spring training.
His final line with the Giants was a 4.02 ERA over 109 2/3 innings, with a 4-7 record. The warning signs were obvious, though. Left-handed hitters tagged him for an .883 OPS and accounted for 12 of the 15 home runs he allowed, and his strikeout rate sat at 16%, which ranked in the 7th percentile.
For 2027, the Giants know they have options. Houser is under contract for next season and has a club option for 2028, and his work out of the bullpen gave the team flexibility.
He can start, follow an opener, or serve as a long-relief arm. With the state of the rotation still unsettled, that versatility matters.
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