Adrian Houser made it crystal clear that his goal is to once again be a starting pitcher for the San Francisco Giants.
Adrian Houser is no stranger to being a starting pitcher, but recent struggles have left the San Francisco Giants no choice but to pitch him out of the bullpen.
The 33-year-old just picked up his third win of the year as he came in after JT Brubaker threw just one inning.
Houser went five innings, allowing six hits but only one earned run in the process. He struck out four batters and walked one, but it's worth noting this was his longest appearance since Tuesday, July 7.
This marked his ninth appearance of five-plus innings this season. He's now appeared in 23 games, but has only started 14 of those. The routine certainly isn't the same knowing he won't be pitching until the seventh inning, or even in a role like he just did where he followed Brubaker, whose sole responsibility was to get the first three outs.
Currently in his 10th year in the majors, Houser has started 139 of the 197 games he's appeared in. All things considered, he's started over 70% of his career games, and he believes he should once again be in the Giants' starting rotation.
Houser makes sure the Giants are aware he wants to be a starter
After the team's 5-2 win, Houser spoke to the media and made his presence known, "I want to [be a] starter," he said, according to NBC Sports Bay Area's Ali Thanawalla.
Houser was brought to San Francisco on a two-year, $22 million deal. That's not exactly the type of money a team should be paying a reliever, especially one who's not a high-leverage closer. Obviously, Houser doesn't check that box, so he's making starting pitching money but hasn't exactly lived up to the hype this season.
Now, though, the Giants are in a bit of a different situation having traded away Robbie Ray and Tyler Mahle.
"That’s what I signed here to do and that’s what I plan to do here in the future but right now, it’s all about getting outs and helping the guys as much as possible," Houser added.
Keep in mind, Houser had a horrific 5.73 ERA in his first 66 innings of the season. Once manager Tony Vitello took a bit of the pressure off of him, he started to look far more comfortable. In his last 31 innings, he sports a 2.03 ERA, and his ERA here in 2026 is down to 4.55 with a relatively solid 1.37 WHIP.
Currently on his fifth team dating back to the 2023 season, Houser's -0.1 WAR simply isn't going to cut it. He's done a great job getting that number in the right direction after such a horrid start, but it'll be interesting to see how Vitello and Co. manage his workload moving forward now that this pitching staff looks entirely different.
