SARASOTA, Fla. — If Andrew Kittredge could copy and paste his results from 2024 into this season, he would do so in a heartbeat. So far, he’s done his best to replicate everything about it.
Kittredge, 34, was a dominant setup man for the St. Louis Cardinals last year, posting a 2.80 ERA in 71 appearances and setting a franchise record with 37 holds. After spending the previous two seasons recovering from a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow and his subsequent Tommy John surgery, he had a normal offseason heading into the 2024 campaign that became the blueprint for how he mapped out the last four months.
“What I try to do is just get my arm in the best shape as possible to carry me through the full 162 and beyond that,” Kittredge said. “Injuries happen, and have kind of cut some years short for me in recent years, but coming off of last year, I just wanted to have a similar approach to what I had last year because I felt good from game one through the end. So, if it’s working, I don’t really want to switch it so basically my plan is to kind of piggyback what I did last year.”
The right-hander waits until the new year to start ramping up his throwing program. He works out at a baseball facility in Spokane, Washington, owned by a high school teammate, who gives him the door code and lets him come and go whenever he needs. Kittredge also throws outside, even when the temperature “dips below 30 [degrees],” if there isn’t too much snow on the ground.
There is one thing Kittredge has considered changing: his pitch mix. Orioles pitching coach Drew French approached him about testing out his splitter, a pitch he’s “messed with” in the past that’s never been picked up by Statcast. He still plans to lean on his slider, which he threw 49.4% of the time last year, and two fastballs but he might mix in the splitter at some point.
“This spring, I have tinkered with that a little bit,” Kittredge said of the splitter. “But I want to make sure that I’m dialed in with what I had last year and this is just more going to kind of see how it goes and see if it can be a weapon that we can use. … If there’s an opportunity to mix in the split then we’ll do that.”
Brandon Young building on breakout
Spring is the time of year for pitchers to test out different pitches, and Kittredge is far from alone. In addition to Albert Suárez practicing with a slider and Grayson Rodriguez messing with a sweeper, Orioles pitching prospect Brandon Young is looking into adding two pitches to his repertoire this year to help him stick as a starter.
The 26-year-old already throws a four-seam fastball, changeup and cutter with occasional sliders and curveballs mixed in, but this year he’s looking to add a two-seam fastball and alter his changeup to turn into more of a splitter.
“I’ve thrown a two-seam for a long time, ever since high school, but ever since junior college, I’ve been throwing four-seams,” Young said. “So, to try and add that, against righties, against lefties, would be nice and modify the changeup a little bit. Make it a little more of a splitter.”
Young put himself on the cusp of a major league call up last season, winning the organization’s minor league Pitcher of the Year award after going 5-4 with a 3.44 ERA, 1.28 WHIP and 9.7 strikeouts per nine innings in 20 games (18 starts) for Triple-A Norfolk. Baseball America ranked him the No. 20 overall prospect in the Orioles’ farm system heading into spring.
Brandon Young is coming off a great 2024 season in the minors. If he keeps that up this spring and early in the season in Triple-A, he could be the next man up if an injury occurs. pic.twitter.com/ugqmZzfHxv
— Jacob Calvin Meyer (@jcalvinmeyer) February 21, 2025
“I really like Young,” former Orioles starter and current camp guest coach Ben McDonald said. “I’ve been watching him throw a couple bullpens and it’s a mid-90s fastball and, watching the analytical data, it’s got some hop on it. It’s got some good carry through the zone with his four-seamer, offspeed stuff seems to be coming.”
The Orioles are stretching Young back out as a starter this season and he’ll likely rejoin fellow young arms Cade Povich and Chayce McDermott in Norfolk to begin the year, representing the team’s top contenders for starting pitcher depth should an injury arise.
Around the horn
• Right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano threw his first live bullpen session of the spring Friday, facing prospects Enrique Bradfield Jr., Dylan Beavers and Jud Fabian for a total of eight at-bats. The trio of outfielders managed to make some solid contact against him, but catcher Adley Rutschman said they weren’t attacking hitters like they would in a game and instead were “playing around” with his repertoire.
Tomoyuki Sugano strikes out Orioles prospect Jud Fabian during his first live BP of the spring: pic.twitter.com/6jPbe3gfSn
— Matt Weyrich (@ByMattWeyrich) February 21, 2025
• In addition to their starter Suárez, the Orioles are planning for Keegan Akin, Bryan Baker, Corbin Martin, Justin Armbruester and Kade Strowd to take the mound in their Grapefruit League opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates, manager Brandon Hyde said. Only a handful of their starting position players will be in the lineup.
• Former Orioles starter John Means posted a farewell message to the team and fans on social media Friday after signing with the Cleveland Guardians. Means, who underwent two Tommy John surgeries during his Baltimore tenure, closed his post by writing, “It didn’t end the way I dreamed, I’ll always wish I could’ve walked off the field one more time on my terms. But, even in the hardest times this organization lifted me up. Thank you for everything.”
• The Orioles announced they were extending fan access at Ed Smith Stadium on non-game days and road game days through March 23, allowing fans to continue watching workouts on the backfields through the bulk of their Grapefruit League schedule. Workouts typically last from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
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