SARASOTA, Fla. — Jackson Holliday not making the Orioles’ opening day roster was the main focus Friday, but it was far from the only news to come out of the club’s Ed Smith Stadium spring training facility.
Perhaps more important to the team’s success in 2024 is what roles starting pitchers Kyle Bradish and John Means have as they make their way back from elbow injuries. Both will begin the season on the injured list, but Orioles executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias said the club is hoping their returns aren’t far off.
“We’re really hoping to get both of them back early in the first half of the season,” Elias said.
Bradish, the team’s best starter last year, has a sprained ulnar collateral ligament, technically a a partial tear, in his elbow and received platelet-rich plasma injections to help speed his recovery. A fully torn UCL normally requires Tommy John elbow reconstruction.
The right-hander began spring training doing light toss from less than 60 feet, but now he’s throwing bullpen sessions with just fastballs. Elias said “everything is pointed in the right direction” with Bradish’s elbow, adding that he’s more confident now than he was six weeks ago.
“We’re six weeks later and he’s checked more boxes,” Elias said. “This is not going to be over until it’s over. This is a whole rehab process that we’ve got to complete, but things continue to be pointed in the right direction as they have since Day 1 of this camp. Now that we’ve banked all this time and a couple benchmarks, I feel even better about it.”
Means has barely pitched the past two seasons after undergoing Tommy John surgery in April 2022. He returned in September for the Orioles’ stretch run and pitched well, but an elbow flare-up before the American League Division Series kept him off the playoff roster.
To ensure he could fully recover from that elbow injury and to set him up to have a healthy 2024, he and the Orioles decided to begin his offseason a month later than normal. He hasn’t pitched in a game this spring, and while he said there’s “no rush” to return, he hopes when he does it will be without “handcuffs.” It’s likely Means will return before Bradish if both continue to progress as expected.
Elias said the Orioles’ rotation — ace Corbin Burnes, sophomore Grayson Rodriguez, first-half star Tyler Wells, right-hander Dean Kremer and left-hander Cole Irvin — is a “quality one.”
“I think that’s a nice-looking rotation,” Elias said.
Elias staying alert
On the last day of spring training last year, the Orioles acquired a nondescript reliever in a cash trade with the Minnesota Twins.
It was barely a footnote that day, as then-prospect Rodriguez was reassigned to minor league camp in a slight surprise move. All that reliever turned out to be was one of the best left-handed bullpen arms in the major leagues, as Danny Coulombe joined the Orioles and dominated throughout the season.
It’s unlikely another gem like Coulombe will join Baltimore in the coming week, but Elias is hoping that’s the case, and he’s eyeing the landscape for a player to come available that the organization values.
“This is also the time period where there’s a lot of activity around the league and a lot going around externally, and it’s a big part of our jobs to monitor that,” he said. “We want to be in a position to stay nimble in this upcoming week before opening day as we see what opportunities present themselves outside the organization, too.”
That’s why Elias isn’t setting the club’s opening day roster, the final version of which will likely be released Thursday morning just hours before first pitch at Camden Yards, he said.
The move to reassign Holliday to minor league camp means the final roster spot will likely go to one of the following players: second baseman Kolten Wong, utilityman Tyler Nevin, infielder Nick Maton or outfielder Ryan McKenna.
McKenna has been a key member of the Orioles the past three seasons even though he’s spent a large portion of that time on the shuttle between Triple-A Norfolk and Baltimore. He’s one of many Orioles players who are out of minor league options this year, meaning the club would have to pass him through waivers — and risk another team claiming him — if he doesn’t make the opening day roster.
Wong, Teheran could opt out
In the middle of camp, the Orioles signed second baseman Kolten Wong and right-hander Julio Teheran to minor league deals with invites to major league spring training to bolster the club’s depth with two accomplished veterans.
Both have opt-out clauses, and both will opt out if they don’t make the Orioles’ opening day roster. Wong, a two-time Gold Glove winner, said Friday he doesn’t want to play in the minor leagues, while a source said Teheran, a former All-Star, will opt out if he’s not on the club.
Technically, the players opted out Friday, giving the Orioles two days to either release them or add them to their active roster.
“I’ve got 10 years in this already,” Wong said. “I don’t plan on going onto the minor leagues after this. Whatever happens, happens. It’s just been a fun time seeing these young guys and all the talent coming up.”
Stowers staying ready
Holliday isn’t the only player who put up impressive numbers this spring but is opening the year in Triple-A.
Outfielder Kyle Stowers was among the group that was optioned or reassigned to minor league camp, including outfielder Heston Kjerstad and infield prospects Coby Mayo and Connor Norby. Stowers was one of the standouts in camp with seven home runs in just 43 at-bats. The 2023 season was a challenging one for the 26-year-old prospect, but he looked like the best version of himself this spring.
Still, it wasn’t enough.
“I’m really bummed,” he said. “I’d be lying to you guys if I said this possibility didn’t cross my mind going into camp. I’m aware of the state of the team. There’s so many good players in this clubhouse. That’s the double-edged sword of it all. We’ve got good veterans and good young guys. It’s not an easy roster to make, but, hey, that’s the big leagues.”
Stowers was on the Orioles’ opening day roster last year but was quickly sent down. He came back up to the majors and struggled mightily, and he suffered a shoulder injury and a broken nose from a hit-by-pitch in the minors.
“Last year I broke camp with the team and then less favorable things happened after that,” he said. “Just because this year I didn’t break with the team doesn’t mean it won’t be a good year for me in the big leagues.”
Stowers believes he improved his standing with the club this spring. Elias said it was a “close call and a tough decision” to send him back down to Triple-A, where he has nearly 800 career plate appearances. He said the determining factor for Stowers and Kjerstad, two left-handed hitters, was they didn’t fit the “player profiles” the Orioles were looking for out of a fifth outfielder to begin the year.
“It’s been difficult for us to get him an extended run at the major league level and for him to get one,” Elias said. “This is a player that we see as having a very bright, long-term future. Having him just kind of sit on the end of the bench and pinch-hit here and there is not ideal. That goes into the calculus, too. He is going to get an extended chance, and when he does, he’s going to take huge advantage of it. All of these guys, their times are coming. You can’t predict when, but it’s going to be this year.”
Cowser cautiously cruising
One prospect whose time seems to be now is Colton Cowser.
The 24-year-old outfielder was perhaps the Orioles’ best hitter this spring with a 1.174 OPS, and while Elias wouldn’t say if he or anyone else was on the team, it seems likely Cowser will open the year as the club’s fourth outfielder.
“I think we’re all very encouraged,” Elias said of Cowser’s camp.
Cowser made his MLB debut last summer but struggled, hitting just .115 in 26 games, and was demoted.
“He got punched in the mouth a little bit in the big leagues last year, very normal. I don’t think he was playing with the level of confidence that he’s capable of,” Elias said. “I think the guy that we’ve seen in spring training … the confidence with which he’s moving around, the precision he’s showing on defense with his routes — this looks like the guy that we’ve seen in the minors more than the one that came up and had some struggles last summer.”
Cowser, who is close friends with Stowers and Kjerstad, said it was difficult to see them get sent down.
“I love those guys and want nothing but the best for them,” he said.
Around the horn
• Right-hander Albert Suárez, who was reassigned to minor league camp Friday, will begin the year in Triple-A Norfolk’s starting rotation, Elias said. The 34-year-old hasn’t pitched in the major leagues since 2017 but has spent the past several seasons pitching in Japan and Korea. He impressed in camp with his mid-90s mph fastball and overall success against MLB talent. “He looks like a very encouraging rotation depth option at this time,” Elias said.
• The Orioles’ Grapefruit League game Friday night against the Pittsburgh Pirates was rained out. They have three more spring games before returning north.