Following the trade deadline in 2022, Orioles general manager Mike Elias said it was “liftoff from here for this team,” meaning the team was about ready for contention.
That proved to be a prophetic statement because one year later the Orioles won 101 games and captured their first American East title since 2014.
Entering this season, the Orioles are expected to compete for a World Series.
They have a solid group of young talent that includes reigning American League Rookie of the Year Gunnar Henderson. The farm system is still considered the best in baseball. Elias pulled the trigger on a major trade, acquiring 2021 National League Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes from the Milwaukee Brewers for a pair of prospects and a draft pick.
“When I made that comment after the 2022 trade deadline, I was talking about the team being good,” Elias said of the liftoff comment. “And if you look at our record since then, we won 100 games and the AL East and I feel like the team held up their end of the bargain on that. It’s about the wins. … We’ve got to get to the postseason and there are a lot of innings to be thrown before we get there. It’s certainly not a necessity that you have a Cy Young-caliber ace at the top of your staff, but it sure is nice.”
This 2023 campaign marked a tie for the fourth-highest regular-season win total in team history and Elias is optimistic that success will carry over to 2024. The Orioles have the infrastructure in place to be successful long term at a time when they enter a new era of ownership. On Jan. 31, the Orioles announced that the Angelos family had agreed to sell the control stake of the club to a group led by Baltimore-born billionaire David Rubenstein.
“I look forward to working with all the Orioles owners, players and staff to build upon the incredible success the team has achieved in recent seasons,” Rubenstein said. “Our collective goal will be to bring a World Series trophy back to the City of Baltimore. To the fans I say we do it for you and can’t do it without you. Thank you for your support.”
Young Guns
The Orioles have one of the best young rosters in the big leagues, highlighted by infielder Henderson, catcher Adley Rutschman and right-handed pitcher Grayson Rodriguez.
Rodriguez had a meteoric rise through the minors, eventually becoming the top pitching prospect in baseball. However, Rodriguez had a rocky start to his major league career and was sent down to the minors last May to work on his command. Rodriguez thrived when he was recalled to the Orioles on July 17, finishing the season 7-4 with a 4.35 ERA and 129 strikeouts in 23 starts. The right-hander went 5-2 with a 2.58 ERA and 73 strikeouts in 13 starts after the All-Star break.
“The first half was pretty difficult,” Rodriguez said. “The second half felt a lot more comfortable and being a lot more consistent is the main goal.”
However, right-hander Kyle Bradish will begin the season on the injured list due to a sprained UCL. He became the ace of the staff last year, going 12-7 with a 2.83 ERA with 168 strikeouts in 168.2 innings, but his outlook for 2024 is unclear.
Rutschman emerged as a clubhouse leader and did an exceptional job managing the pitching staff in 2023. He also slashed .277/.374/.435/.809 with 52 extra-base hits and 80 RBIs. He walked 92 times and struck out 101 times. He enters the 2024 season projected to post the fifth-highest WAR of any position player in baseball, according to FanGraphs, behind only Ronald Acuña Jr. (Braves), Juan Soto (Yankees), Aaron Judge (Yankees) and Mookie Betts (Dodgers).
Henderson looked like he might need more time in the minors after he batted just .170 in the first month of 2023. However, the infielder was a quick study and hard worker, improving his batting average to .246 by the All-Star break. He only got better at the plate and was stellar defensively, spending time at both shortstop and third base.
By the end of the season, Henderson led all AL rookies in home runs (28), triples (9), RBIs (82) and runs scored (100). He hit .255/.325/.489 with 66 extra-base hits en route to being named the unanimous AL Rookie of the Year. He got off to a late start in the spring due to mild oblique aggravation.
Holliday’s Future Could Be Now
Elias and manager Brandon Hyde have both indicated that infielder Jackson Holliday, ranked the top prospect in the game by Baseball America, will have the opportunity to make the Orioles’ roster out of spring training.
Holliday, the son of former MLB outfielder Matt Holliday, was the No. 1 pick in the 2022 MLB Draft out of Stillwater High School in Oklahoma. He had a meteoric rise through the minors and finished last season at Triple-A Norfolk.
Holliday batted a combined .323/.442/.499 across four minor-league levels — Low-A Delmarva, High-A Aberdeen, Double-A Bowie and the Tides — a year ago. He played mostly shortstop and second base.
“Somebody who’s gone through the minors that fast, that young, that’s a big decision and it’s something that we’re going to be very careful about,” Hyde said. “But we’re going to watch him play as much as possible [in the spring]. He’s checked a lot of boxes.”
Other Prospects On The Way
The Norfolk Tides won the Triple-A championship in 2023 and have several more prospects beyond Holliday — like outfielder Colton Cowser and infielders Coby Mayo and Connor Norby — who will be pushing for a regular spot on the major league roster in 2024.
The Orioles have five players in Baseball America’s top 100 prospects: Holliday (No. 1); catcher Samuel Basallo (No. 10), Mayo (No. 25), Cowser (No. 34) and Heston Kjerstad (No. 41). Left-hander DL Hall ranks No. 93, but he was part of the trade with the Brewers for Burnes.
Cowser made his major league debut last season but had some struggles, batting .115 (7-for-61) with four RBIs in 26 games. He is looking to have more success this season after getting that experience with the Orioles in 2023.
“I would say that, just because you struggle doesn’t necessarily mean it’s always frustrating,” Cowser said. “I think there were some certain struggles that I couldn’t really control, and I think that’s all about the frame of mind that you’re in — and also whether you take it as a learning experience or just kind of sulk in your sorrows. So I choose to take it as a learning experience.”
Norby, Basallo, Mayo and Holliday were among 20 non-roster players invited to major league spring training in Sarasota, Fla. Pitchers Justin Armbruester, Chayce McDermott and Cade Povich also received invites.
New Closer In Town
Orioles closer Félix Bautista underwent Tommy John surgery in October and will likely miss the entire 2024 season.
As such, the Orioles signed Craig Kimbrel in December to a one-year deal reportedly worth $13 million guaranteed, with a $13 million club option for 2025. Kimbrel was 8-6 with a 3.26 ERA and 23 saves with Philadelphia in 2023.
Kimbrel, who ranks eighth in AL/NL history with 417 career saves in 14 big league seasons, provides a veteran presence for the bullpen. He has won the Reliever of the Year Award in both the American League and National League in his career.
“I feel way more structured when we think about our bullpen now,” Elias said. “To have Craig in there, the plan is for him to be the closer and we were very clear about that when we signed him, and that’s what we want him to do. It doesn’t mean that Brandon isn’t going to use him to face the middle of the order in a tie game in the eighth inning.”
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