This story was excerpted from Jake Rill's Orioles Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
BALTIMORE -- Knowing more than five starting pitchers would be needed to get through the 2025 season, the Orioles built rotation depth throughout the winter. They constructed a collection of arms they felt would be enough to weather any potential adversity.
They didn¡¯t know the injury bug would bite them this bad, though.
Zach Eflin (right lat strain) became the seventh Baltimore starter to join the injured list on Wednesday, when the 31-year-old right-hander went on the 15-day IL. It was another unexpected blow for a staff that continues to be dealt them.
As the O¡¯s open an eight-game homestand Saturday, let¡¯s break down their rotation landscape.
Current rotation (4): RHP Charlie Morton (8.78 ERA in three starts), RHP Dean Kremer (8.16 ERA in three starts), RHP Tomoyuki Sugano (2.89 ERA in two starts), LHP Cade Povich (3.48 ERA in two starts)
Because of Monday¡¯s off-day, the Orioles don¡¯t need a fifth starter until April 19. So they could stick with these four for the next week.
However, this is a group that has largely underperformed. Sugano has been solid at the start of his first MLB season, while Povich mostly pitched around trouble in his last start in Kansas City, where he allowed four runs (only one earned) on 12 hits in six innings last Sunday.
But Morton and Kremer have had tougher starts to the year as they aim to get on track soon.
¡°I mean, for me personally, it¡¯s like, I¡¯ve got to get going,¡± the 41-year-old Morton recently said. ¡°For me, that¡¯s what it¡¯s about. Guys get hurt. All teams have bad luck. All teams have injuries. It¡¯s just, as an individual, stepping up and doing my job.¡±
Injured list (7): RHP Zach Eflin (right lat strain), RHP Grayson Rodriguez (right elbow inflammation), RHP Albert Suárez (right subscapularis strain), RHP Kyle Bradish (Tommy John surgery), RHP Tyler Wells (UCL repair surgery), LHP Trevor Rogers (right knee subluxation), RHP Chayce McDermott (right lat strain)
The hope for Baltimore will be that Eflin and Rodriguez aren¡¯t sidelined much longer and can return to provide much-needed boosts. Eflin was shut down after experiencing fatigue on Tuesday, so he won¡¯t resume throwing until next week at the earliest.
Rodriguez threw a bullpen session featuring multiple types of pitches earlier this week, but the 25-year-old will need to face live hitters before becoming an option for the big league rotation.
Su¨¢rez is expected to miss multiple months. Wells and Bradish are unlikely to return until after the All-Star break -- the former potentially before the latter, though it¡¯s possible for timelines to change as pitchers work their way back from significant surgeries.
Rogers and McDermott (the Orioles¡¯ No. 4 prospect per MLB Pipeline) started throwing programs late in Spring Training, but they haven¡¯t yet made any rehab starts. Both were expected to begin the season at Triple-A Norfolk prior to their injuries.
Coming soon (1): RHP Kyle Gibson
Gibson will be joining Baltimore¡¯s pitching staff once the 37-year-old is built up to a starter¡¯s workload. He hasn¡¯t reached that point yet because he didn¡¯t sign his one-year, $5.25 million deal with the O¡¯s until March 21, the final weekend of Spring Training.
On Thursday, Gibson made his first start for Triple-A Norfolk, tossing 3 1/3 innings of one-run ball with four strikeouts on 47 pitches (33 strikes).
MLB-ready depth (2): RHP Brandon Young, RHP Cody Poteet
Young (the Orioles¡¯ No. 19 prospect) is quite close to his first big league callup. The 26-year-old won the organization¡¯s Jim Palmer Minor League Pitcher of the Year Award in 2024. Now, he has pitched 11 1/3 innings without allowing an earned run over his first two Triple-A starts of ¡®25.
Poteet, 30, has a 3.80 ERA over 24 career MLB outings (13 starts). He was acquired in a trade with the Cubs on March 29.