Can we all agree that the Orioles organization has a problem developing pitchers?
C’mon, I can’t see you. Raise your hands if you agree.
I have been here longer than any Orioles executive — Mike Elias, Dan Duquette, Andy MacPhail, Jim Beattie, the late Mike Flanagan, Jim Duquette, Roland Hemond and even Pat Gillick. And I have seen the continuity of the same pattern of seemingly always bungling the pitching.
It’s often said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
As I wrote in a column about a month ago, Elias drafted 51 pitchers from 2019-2023 and only two have made it to the major leagues: right-handers Connor Gillispie and Kade Strowd. Gillispie, currently in the Miami organization, has thrown a total of 34 innings for the Guardians and Marlins and has a combined ERA of 7.15. Strowd actually looks like he could have a future in the Orioles’ bullpen.
I asked Elias during his Zoom news conference the day after the deadline if he was happy with the development of pitchers in the organization. I even prefaced my question by acknowledging that I understood his philosophy was using premium draft capital exclusively on hitters and that he’s then be able to acquire pitching via trades and free agency. Here’s what Elias had to say:
“As you mentioned, we haven’t brought in a lot of real high draft picks on the pitching side — a little more recently, but early in the rebuild we wanted and needed to hit on those picks with core position players, so that was our emphasis. I think that our pitching department has done a great job with a lot of lower-investment-type guys that we’ve brought in. … A lot of them are still in the farm system. You’re going to see them soon. We’ve had a lot of injury misfortune, as have a lot of other organizations. It’s a really tough thing right now to get pitching figured out all around. But this is an area that there’s always room for improvement, and we definitely need better pitching performance on the field next year in 2026, so we’re going to be pushing for that.”
I am a firm believer that Elias, while he won’t say it out loud, is quietly starting to adjust his philosophy. Boston Bateman, acquired from the Padres, was a second-round draft pick in 2024. Juaron Watts-Brown, acquired from the Blue Jays, was a third-round pick in 2023. This year, Elias used picks 58 and 69 to draft Michigan State lefty Joseph Dzierwa and Georgia right-hander JT Quinn, respectively.
I am sure Elias and his team are very familiar with all the players they acquired at the deadline. I am equally sure he has picked up some talented arms.
Some of the pitchers the Orioles picked up recently — 13 in the draft and 11 at the deadline — will get hurt. Some just won’t be good enough. Lately, it’s dawned on me that the plethora of pitching injuries exposed a total lack of depth. It’s not just that the Orioles have failed miserably at developing one or two middle-of-the-rotation guys in the previous six years. It’s that they have failed just as badly in delivering a few legitimate bullpen arms.
Think about that. Elias inherited Keegan Akin, Félix Bautista and Tanner Scott from Dan Duquette. After that, Elias did do a good job of identifying Bryan Baker, Yennier Cano, Danny Coulombe, Jorge López, Cionel Pérez and Cole Sulser.
I am a fan of all the good that Elias did in tearing down the Orioles in 2019-2022. But if the definition of insanity holds true for Elias and his pitching development department, how and why will the Orioles get better results?
That area will end up being Elias’ lasting legacy in Baltimore and will determine if he can really finish the job he was hired to do — compete for a World Series.
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