The Orioles’ trade deadline sale was the official signal of a lost season, a clear sign they won’t make a postseason push in 2025. Now, some of their younger players have a longer leash in the major leagues.
Brandon Young, 26, and Cade Povich, 25, started in Baltimore’s weekend series with the Athletics. Every start they make the rest of the year will hold importance.
“There’s a lot of equal standing right now for guys,” interim manager Tony Mansolino said. “As guys who pitch [well] and are consistent, they’ll probably get more opportunity here. And guys who don’t, then they’ll probably get a little bit of a reset.”
Young and Povich had completely different outings. Young allowed six runs in three innings on Aug. 9, including a pair of home runs. The Orioles never led after falling behind in the third inning. Povich, meanwhile, only gave up one run in six innings on Aug. 10 in his best start since April.
The start was a disappointment for Young, who was given a lead after the first frame and could have pitched to his first career win. It came after a stretch in which the 6-foot-6, 210-pound right-hander allowed five earned runs in 15 innings in his previous three outings, a strong ERA of 3.00.
Young’s latest outing raised his season ERA nearly a full run to 6.70.
“He’s got a great opportunity right now,” Mansolino said. “I don’t think it’s always going to be super linear. I think there’s going to be some ups and downs with him.”
Mansolino said before Povich’s start he wants the 6-foot-3, 185-pound left-hander to focus on two things for the rest of the season: pitching with an edge and improving his fastball command, especially noting how the latter could make his entire repertoire “take off.”
Povich achieved both of those feats on Sunday. He allowed at least one baserunner in all six innings but escaped with just one run to his line. He attacked the Athletics’ hitters, throwing 15 of his 24 first pitches for strikes. Seventy-five percent of those pitches were fastballs.
Forty-two of Povich’s 94 pitches were fastballs — nearly 8 percentage points higher than his season average. More than 71 percent of Povich’s fastballs resulted in a strike or an out. Just one of Povich’s nine fastballs that ended an at-bat resulted in a hit, and it came outside the strike zone.
Mansolino said the outing was the best he’s seen Povich throw the fastball to the arm side For a left-handed pitcher, that means attacking the inside corner to a left-handed hitter and outside corner to a right-handed hitter.
“During rehab, before I started throwing in games in bullpens, that was kind of a priority being able to command certain parts of the zone with the fastball,” Povich said. “… I think it’s just a little [about] mentality. Maybe putting a little more emphasis on it.”
Baltimore should get a few starters back in the weeks ahead. Kyle Bradish, who hasn’t pitched this year due to Tommy John surgery, has made four rehab starts. Tyler Wells, another pitcher who has yet to appear in a regular-season game this season, has pitched three rehab games. Albert Suárez, out since March 28, will start a rehab assignment this week, Mansolino said.
Dean Kremer, Trevor Rogers and Tomoyuki Sugano have three rotation spots locked up as long as they stay healthy. The eventual returns of Bradish, Wells and Suárez will present some decisions for the rotation.
Povich and Young need to pitch well to keep their spots. They’ll have to do so against a difficult rest-of-season schedule that features eight teams with a winning record, representing 35 of the Orioles’ final 44 games.
While Baltimore’s hopes of postseason play have vanished, there is still a lot to play for Povich and Young. Success for them, especially against playoff-caliber teams, is critical for their development.
“Plenty of chances to be able to continue to grow,” Povich said. “Learn some different things about myself, about pitching in the big leagues and trying to figure out what works and what can kind of help me get to that next level.”
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