Orioles pitching prospect Ryan Long wants to pitch in the 2026 World Baseball Classic and the 2028 Summer Olympics, the latter of which will be held in Los Angeles.
Long, 25, previously pitched for Great Britain in the 2023 WBC. His mother is from England and moved to Washington state at a young age. Long has American-British dual citizenship.
“It was an amazing experience, probably the best baseball experience I’ve ever had,” Long said on Glenn Clark Radio April 18. “It was such a cool time to be able to play with those guys, being able to represent a country like that, be on the world stage, throw against teams like the Team USA squad. It was an amazing experience. I’ve already told them I’d love nothing more than to play again for them in the 2026 WBC. I don’t know what the Olympics are going to look like, but I would love to do anything like that.”
If Long is in the major leagues by 2028, he’s hoping big league ballplayers will be allowed to participate, even with the Olympics taking place during the regular season.
“If I’m in the big leagues at that point, I would totally want to play in the Olympics, 100 percent,” Long said. “I don’t know what that’ll look like. Obviously, it’s tough with the in-season stuff, but I would be in favor of that.”
Before Long can accomplish his goals of playing in the WBC and Olympics, he has to get through the 2025 season first. The 6-foot-6, 240-pound right-hander is off to a great start with Double-A Chesapeake, boasting a 2-0 mark and 2.63 ERA in three starts (13.2 innings).
This season’s success comes just after a tough 2024 season for Long. He made 25 appearances (14 starts) between what was then Double-A Bowie and Triple-A Norfolk, posting a 5.34 ERA and allowing 21 home runs in 97.2 innings.
“On one hand, I have a better feel for my overall arsenal,” Long said of why he’s improved this season. “A pitch I worked on a lot last year was my splitter and worked on that over the offseason a lot. It’s become more of a weapon this year. Last year, it was a bit inconsistent. I didn’t know quite as much as where it was going, what the movement would be on that, but after working on that a lot at the end of the year and then over the offseason, that’s become one of my best off-speed offerings that I can go to with two strikes in the count to hopefully get some strikeouts.”
Long says his coaches have helped him improve this season, particularly with keeping the ball in the park. His coaches helped him with his mentality on the mound.
“I talked a lot with my coaches and coordinators last year because I was a little bit frustrated with the amount of home runs I was giving up,” Long said. “It was a combination of a couple things. One was just bad luck. I think there were a few times where I actually executed a pitch well and a guy was either sitting on it or it got a bit lucky with it. Obviously out in Bowie, we play in a bit of a hitter’s park so sometimes that just happens.”
Long says Double-A has been a great experience for him since he gets to play against other potential major leaguers and improve his skills.
“I’d say that jump from High-A to Double-A was the biggest jump I’ve ever had in my playing career,” Long said. “The hitters are a lot more refined. Lineups feel longer. In High-A, you have your guys that can really hit at the top of the order, but when you get into the sixth, seventh, eighth spots in the lineup, if you’re executing your stuff you can generally get them out. In Double-A, the lineups are longer. You’ve got guys near the bottom of the order that have really refined approaches. Some guys have time up at Triple-A. So it just makes you have to be a lot more locked into your approach throughout the entire game.”
For more from Long, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Joe Noyes/Chesapeake Baysox