The Orioles announced that they have selected right-handers Kade Strowd and Brandon Young to their 40-man roster, protecting them being available in next month’s Rule 5 draft. The 40-man roster now has 39 players on it.
Strowd, 27, was a 12th-round pick of the Orioles in 2019. He has posted some intriguing numbers in the minors in terms of strikeouts and grounders, but also with a notable amount of walks. Over the past two years, he has thrown 106 2/3 innings with a 5.32 earned run average. His 12.3% walk rate in that time is certainly high but he’s also struck out 28.4% of batters faced while getting grounders on more than half of the balls in play he’s allowed.
Young, 26, signed with the O’s as an undrafted free agent in 2020. He missed decent chunks of both 2022 and 2023 due to elbow surgery but seemed to get back on track this year. He tossed 111 innings over 27 appearances between Double-A and Triple-A with a combined 3.57 ERA. He struck out 28.5% of batters faced while giving out walks just 8% of the time.
Both players have reached Triple-A and will give the O’s some immediate depth in 2025, Strowd in the bullpen and Young in the rotation. The starting staff just lost Corbin Burnes to free agency while Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells are going to start the season on the injured list after undergoing surgeries this year. The club will presumably be making some moves to alter their staff in the coming months, but they didn’t want these two to be plucked away by another club in the Rule 5, so they get roster spots today.
Both are fine candidates to be selected to the 40 given that the Orioles don’t have too much upper minors pitching needing to be protected/not already on the 40.
At the moment the rotation consists of two above average starters in G Rodriguez and Z Elfin. I think they were lucky with Suarez last year (ended up around average) and they can’t count on that again, and are otherwise hoping Kremer suddenly finds something in his 4th year in the rotation and Povich in his 2nd. I don’t see either turning into anything above average. As it stands, as the article mentions external help is going to be needed to build a competitive rotation.
Last season during the 2nd half this was pretty much the rotation plus Burnes, and they couldn’t keep the team at .500.
It will be interesting to see what new ownership is willing to do to move the Orioles to a higher competitive level.
Yea. They better get a #1 caliber starter and a #3. Plus plenty of bullpen help. Hopefully Tyler wells can be a solid backend bullpen guy again.
If Adley sucks for another half a season the team will be in trouble. At this point he’s only there for his bat and in-between inning encouragement to the pitchers. Despite solid end of season numbers for the offense, they really didnt pass the eye test on a daily basis. The inconsistency with RISP was dreadful. They need a high average bat or two. Juan Soto anyone???
Huh?
SSS and not saying he’s a bonafide 1 or 2, but Povich was very dominant over his last 5 starts.
Reasonable additions. Will be interesting to see if they each survive the offseason roster moves.
Interested to see if some of these younger pitchers can make the next step. Saw some flashes with Povich, McDermott has a reasonable chance at becoming a mid rotation guy as well.
They should look to add 2 pitchers in the rotation at a minimum with 1 being at the higher end. Burnes would be great to come back but he’s likely out of the O’s spending range.
Remember, we have a winning mentality now. The window is open. Can’t be hoping for this that and the other thing to fall our way with pitching. Go get the best pitching available and win the freakin thing.
if they’re at 39 and the O’s see 2 players that they want to pick up from another team… I wonder who of the 39 is most likely to be dropped first?
I’m excited to see what Brandon young can bring, it’s easy to root for the undrafted players
Luis Gonzalez, Thaddeus Ward, or Colin Selby would be first to go I’d think since they are all essentially interchangeable, out of option bullpen roster pieces.