Orioles Notes: Akin, Kittredge, O’Neill, Kremer, Holliday
Injuries have (again) been a major storyline of the Orioles’ season, but the team announced today that left-hander Keegan Akin has been activated from the 15-day injured list. Akin’s return comes a day after Andrew Kittredge and Tyler O’Neill were both activated Friday from the 15-day IL and seven-day concussion IL, respectively. Right-hander Cameron Foster was optioned to Triple-A for Akin, while outfielder Johnathan Rodriguez and right-hander Jose Espada were optioned to Triple-A yesterday for Kittredge and O’Neill.
Both Akin (groin strain) and Kittredge (shoulder inflammation) had spent the entire season on the IL, and Kittredge made his season debut yesterday, tossing a 1-2-3 inning out of the bullpen in the Orioles’ 10-3 win over the Red Sox. Initially signed to a one-year, $9MM contract in the 2024-25 offseason, Kittredge was dealt to the Cubs at last summer’s trade deadline, but Chicago then swapped Kittredge back to Baltimore in early November, and the O’s exercised a $9MM club option on the reliever’s services for 2026.
Kittredge and Akin are expected to be high-leverage arms in Baltimore’s pen, and Akin is the team’s top left-handed relief option. With both Akin and Dietrich Enns out of action, Grant Wolfram had been the Orioles’ only southpaw reliever for the last several days.
O’Neill was sidelined after hitting .241/.353/.345 over his first 34 plate appearances, and since he didn’t play yesterday, April 8 remains the outfielder’s last game. The always-uncertain nature of concussion symptoms led to an absence of over two weeks, yet hopefully O’Neill has now put the issue entirely behind him.
Even with three players now back in action, Baltimore’s injured list remains 10 players deep. Dean Kremer was the latest player sidelined, as the right-hander was placed on the 15-day IL on Thursday (retroactive to April 20) due to a right quad strain. Right-hander Brandon Young was called up from Triple-A in the corresponding move, and Young started Friday’s game in Kremer’s place, getting the win while allowing three runs on seven hits and a walk over 5 2/3 innings of work.
Young will probably get an extended run as Baltimore’s fifth starter since Kremer will miss “several weeks,” as O’s president of baseball operations Mike Elias told MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko and other reporters. Elias said Kremer’s injury surfaced during his between-starts prep work, and that “our plan is to try to keep his arm in as good of shape as possible because it’s not bothering him too much to throw right now, but we’ve got to let that thing heal and get his lower body condition back.”
The injury is another setback in what has already been an unusual season for Kremer, who began the season in Triple-A simply because the Orioles had five preferred options in their starting rotation. Zach Eflin‘s Tommy John surgery created an avenue for Kremer’s return, and the righty posted a 4.09 ERA over two starts and 11 innings before his quad strain surfaced.
With Kremer out and Eflin gone for the entire season, Cade Povich is now the Orioles’ top depth arm if another injury should strike the rotation. Albert Suarez and Tyler Wells are both ex-starters turned into multi-inning relievers, and conceivably either pitcher could be stretched out again for at least a piggyback type of role if even more starting help was needed beyond Povich.
Elias provided some updates to Kubatko and company on several other O’s players, including the news that Enns (foot infection) also seems to be nearing a return from the 15-day IL. Heston Kjerstad (hamstring strain) has yet to play this season, but is participating in full baseball activities and could be close to a minor league rehab assignment.
Concerns were raised earlier this week when Jackson Holliday underwent a fresh set of tests on his injured right hand, but Elias said the MRI, CT scan, and x-rays all came back clean. Holliday underwent hamate bone surgery on February 12 and was expected to start playing within the usual four to eight weeks, but his rehab work has now been paused twice due to continued soreness in the right hand.
Holliday discussed his latest setback with reporters yesterday, saying that a foul tip in Tuesday’s rehab game left him feeling “like I broke my hand again. Obviously, kind of concerning taking a swing and having that kind of pain, but I guess it’s not normal, but obviously nothing structurally wrong, and I guess whenever a tendon rolls over a nerve it can kind of cause that.”
The plan is to keep Holliday shut down for another week before restarting the rehab process. The clean tests at least provided some evidence that Holliday’s continued hand problems aren’t anything overtly serious, and Elias described the situation as “all within the possible normal spectrum of outcomes with the hamate injury….We’ve seen these come really quick for some players, and others take a long time to feel like themselves. So we want to let him get through this on an individual basis, and we’re giving him as much time as he needs, but we’re eager to have him back and welcome back with open arms once he’s ready.”
Orioles Lose Dietrich Enns To Foot Infection, Recall Brandon Young
The Orioles placed left-hander Dietrich Enns on the injured list with an infected left foot, per a team announcement. The issue required IV antibiotics at a Pittsburgh hospital, manager Craig Albernaz told reporters, including Andy Kostka of the Baltimore Banner. “It’s crazy,” Albernaz said. “I’m not sure what happened. But his foot is pretty gnarly.”
Right-hander Brandon Young was recalled to take Enns’ spot on the roster. He’ll draw the start tonight against the White Sox. Baltimore needed another starter after Zach Eflin went to the IL with an elbow injury. Cade Povich was also recalled recently. He was a candidate to draw the start on Monday, but ended up tossing 5 2/3 innings in relief of Chris Bassitt yesterday.
Enns returned stateside last season after three seasons pitching in Asia. He stumbled to a 5.60 ERA in seven appearances with the Tigers. Detroit shipped him to Baltimore for cash at the trade deadline. Enns emerged as a meaningful part of the Orioles’ bullpen over the final two months of the season. The veteran tossed 28 2/3 innings with a 3.14 ERA and a 27.6% strikeout rate. He also earned a pair of saves.
The Orioles had a $3MM club option on Enns for 2026. Instead of exercising the option, the team worked out a new one-year contract with the lefty. He’s making $2.5MM this season. The reworked deal includes a $3.5MM club option for 2027, with a $125K buyout.
Young made his debut in 2025. He posted an ERA above 6.00 across a dozen starts, though his xFIP (4.52) and SIERA (4.67) suggested he deserved better results. Young, Povich, and Albert Suarez will have a chance to secure the No. 5 spot in the rotation with Eflin potentially facing an extended absence. The righty is getting a second opinion on his injured elbow from orthopedic surgeon Keith Meister.
Photo courtesy of Daniel Kucin Jr., Imagn Images
Orioles Designate Vimael Machin, Transfer Brandon Young To 60-Day IL
The Orioles announced a series of roster moves Wednesday, designating infielder Vimael Machin for assignment and transferring right-hander Brandon Young to the 60-day injured list (thereby ending his season). Their 40-man roster spots will go to infielder Emmanuel Rivera and right-hander Roansy Contreras — the latter of whom was already known to be on his way to the majors. Their contracts have been formally selected from Triple-A Norfolk. Baltimore also optioned right-hander Yaramil Hiraldo to Norfolk.
Machin, 31, played his first four big league games since 2022 earlier this month after the O’s summoned him from Norfolk. He went just 1-for-12 but made the most of that lone knock, depositing it over the right field wall for the second home run of his brief MLB career. He’s now played in parts of four seasons — the other three all coming with the A’s — and posted a .204/.286/.264 batting line in 373 trips to the plate.
Though he’s never fared well in the big leagues, Machin is a lifetime .289/.371/.449 hitter in just under 1400 plate appearances at the Triple-A level. He’s a lefty hitter with a good eye at the plate, experience at all four infield positions and a pair of minor league options remaining, so it’s at least feasible that another club plucks him off waivers as a depth option. If not, he’ll have the right to reject an outright assignment from the Orioles upon clearing waivers, should he prefer to explore other opportunities.
Young, 27, made his big league debut with the O’s earlier this season. He’s made a dozen starts despite rocky results — a testament to the depleted status of the Baltimore rotation this year. An undrafted free agent in the shortened (five-round) 2020 draft, Young has pitched 57 2/3 innings in 2025. He’s been tagged for an ugly 6.24 ERA despite passable rate stats (18.4% strikeout rate, 8.6% walk rate). The long ball has been his primary undoing, as he’s served up 12 homers in his relatively small sample of work (1.87 HR/9).
A hamstring strain sent Young to the 15-day IL last week. At the time, interim manager Tony Mansolino acknowledged that the right-hander would miss more than the minimum, but it wasn’t clear until today’s move to the 60-day IL that Young’s season is formally over; there simply aren’t enough days left on the calendar for him to fulfill that 60-day minimum.
Young can be controlled for six more seasons and has two minor league option years remaining beyond the current campaign. He’ll likely stick around as a depth option for a rotation that figures to be a focal point of the Orioles’ forthcoming offseason dealings.
Rivera, 29, came to the O’s late last season and went on a tear in 27 games down the stretch. He played well enough to be tendered a contract and sign for $1MM in spite of lack of track record. His 2025 season hasn’t gone as hoped. In the same number of games as last year, Rivera has slashed .229/.299/.271. The O’s passed him through waivers earlier in the summer, and he’s hit fairly well in Norfolk, slashing .297/.362/.356 in 246 turns at the plate.
Contreras, 25, is a former top prospect who looked like a potential long-term piece in the Pirates’ rotation following a strong 2022 big league debut. He’s struggled in every subsequent campaign, however, logging a 5.47 ERA over his past 136 2/3 big league frames. He landed with the Orioles via waivers late in the offseason, and Baltimore was able to pass him through waivers themselves, removing him from the 40-man roster. He’s now been added back after tossing 91 2/3 innings of 3.73 ERA ball for the Tides. Mansolino indicated yesterday that Contreras would either start today’s game or pitch several innings of bulk relief.
Orioles Select Matt Bowman
The Orioles selected the contract of right-handed reliever Matt Bowman and placed righty Brandon Young on the 15-day injured list due to a strained left hamstring, the team announced. Right-hander Felix Bautista, who recently underwent shoulder surgery, was moved from the 15-day IL to the 60-day IL to open a spot on the 40-man roster.
It’s the third big league stint of the season with the Orioles for Bowman. The 34-year-old journeyman has previously pitched 23 1/3 innings with Baltimore in 2025, recording a 5.79 earned run average while striking out 15.7% of his opponents against a 5.6% walk rate. The O’s have designated him for assignment multiple times this season, but he’s accepted outright assignments to Triple-A Norfolk after clearing waivers despite having the right to reject in favor of free agency.
Bowman has been solid in Norfolk, tossing 26 1/3 innings for the Tides and posting a 4.10 ERA. He’s set down 21.8% of his opponents there on strikes and notched a 5.5% walk rate that mirrors his strong mark in the majors. The former 13th-rounder has now pitched in parts of seven big league seasons with seven different teams and worked to a 4.32 ERA in 239 1/3 innings.
It’s not yet clear whether Young, a 27-year-old rookie, will make it back to the big leagues this season. With only five weeks left on the schedule, virtually any injury has the possibility of ending a player’s season. He’s pitched to a 6.24 ERA in his first 57 2/3 innings as a big leaguer. As for Bautista, his move to the 60-day IL is a pure formality. The shoulder procedure comes with an estimated 12-month recovery, so he was always going to be moved to the 60-day IL the first time the O’s needed to open up a 40-man spot.
Orioles Place Zach Eflin On Injured List
Zach Eflin’s back soreness is sending him to the 15-day injured list. The Orioles announced the move, which is retroactive to June 29, while recalling rookie righty Brandon Young to take his spot on the active roster.
Eflin only made it through one inning during his start on Saturday before he was forced out of the game by back tightness. The O’s have not provided any more specificity, only announcing the injury as lower back discomfort. His return timeline isn’t clear. Eflin is an impending free agent on a last place team, so an injury one month before the deadline could impact the summer trade market.
This continues a frustrating season for the 31-year-old righty. It began well enough, as Eflin opened the year with three consecutive quality starts. He exited his third appearance with shoulder discomfort that was later diagnosed as a low-grade lat strain. That cost him a month. More concerning is that Eflin has not looked right since he made his return on May 11.
In nine starts since coming back from the shoulder injury, Eflin has been tagged for a 7.16 earned run average. He has fanned under 17% of opposing hitters while surrendering a staggering 14 home runs in only 44 innings. Even if one wants to write off Saturday’s performance — in which he gave up four runs in one inning while trying to pitch through the back discomfort — he’d been hit hard in four of his prior eight outings.
That was already dealing a hit to Eflin’s trade value. While clubs would be intrigued by his 2023-24 numbers, he’s a relatively expensive rebound target on an $18MM salary. This injury adds another layer of uncertainty and could run the risk of taking him off the trade market entirely if he’s still injured by the end of July. Players on the IL are eligible to be traded, but that’d be a difficult sell to other teams if he hasn’t shown some level of improved form by the deadline. O’s GM Mike Elias said over the weekend that they’re not yet committed to selling. Still, it’d take a huge performance over the next couple weeks to raise their playoff odds to a point where the front office can justify not moving at least their impending free agents.
In the meantime, Young seems likely to step into Tony Mansolino’s rotation. The 26-year-old has struggled in a trio of spot starts, giving up 10 runs over 12 2/3 innings. He owns a 3.25 ERA in 25 outings at the Triple-A level over the past couple seasons. Young has a five-pitch mix led by a fastball that sits around 93 MPH.
Orioles Designate Scott Blewett For Assignment
The Orioles announced that right-hander Scott Blewett has been designated for assignment. The move opens up a 26-man roster spot for Brandon Young, whose first promotion to the majors was reported on yesterday.
Blewett was only just claimed off waivers from the Twins earlier this week, and his brief time in the orange-and-black has seen the righty throw 4 1/3 scoreless innings over two relief appearances, striking out six of 19 batters faced. Despite the impressive small sample, Blewett again finds himself in DFA limbo, likely owing to his lack of remaining minor league options.
It is a familiar story for Blewett, who has a 1.53 ERA in 29 1/3 big league innings with the Twins and Orioles over the last two seasons but is still looking to find a steady foothold for himself in the Show. His secondary metrics (such as his hard-contact rates) aren’t particularly impressive, and likely hold a greater sway for front offices than Blewett’s strong bottom-line results. Blewett also hasn’t stood out in the upper minors, posting a 6.93 ERA in 219 1/3 career innings at the Triple-A level.
Should Blewett clear waivers, he has the right to reject an outright assignment to Triple-A Norfolk and opt into free agency, since he has previously been outrighted in his career. One would imagine another team in need of bullpen help could have interest in claiming Blewett away from Baltimore and giving him a longer look against MLB hitters, just as the O’s plucked him off Minnesota’s roster a few days ago.
Orioles To Promote Brandon Young For MLB Debut
Orioles right-hander Brandon Young will start Saturday’s game, making his major league debut. Jake Rill of MLB.com was among those to relay the update. Young has been added to the taxi squad for now and will be officially recalled prior to his start. He is already on the 40-man roster, so the O’s will only need to make a corresponding active roster move.
Young, 26, is one of Baltimore’s top pitching prospects. He went undrafted in 2020, the year in which the draft was shortened by the pandemic to just five rounds. He signed with Baltimore and has since been climbing through the minors and raising his stock, though Tommy John surgery led to him missing most of the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
Around that long rehab process, he has tossed 265 minor league innings, allowing 3.57 earned runs per nine. He has struck out 28.5% of opponents while only giving out walks at an 8% clip. Last year, he tossed 111 innings between Double-A and Triple-A with a 3.57 ERA. His strikeout and walks rates matched his overall track record, coming in at 28.5% and 8% respectively.
That was strong enough that the O’s didn’t want to risk losing him in the Rule 5 draft, so they added him to their 40-man roster in November. Baseball America ranked him the club’s #20 prospect coming into this year, suggesting he could become a back-end starter in the big leagues. His somewhat tepid fastball velocity, which averaged 92.5 miles per hour last year, seemed to make BA a bit bearish. FanGraphs is a bit more bullish, recently giving Young the #6 spot in the organization, believing that improvements to his curveball and changeup give him a bit of a higher ceiling.
He has started this year in the Triple-A rotation, posting a 2.76 ERA in his first three starts. Though Young has been putting up good numbers, his promotion perhaps says more about what’s going on elsewhere on the roster. The Orioles have Grayson Rodriguez, Zach Eflin, Kyle Bradish, Tyler Wells, Trevor Rogers, Albert Suárez and Chayce McDermott all on the injured list. That leaves them with a current rotation core of Charlie Morton, Tomoyuki Sugano, Dean Kremer and Cade Povich.
The O’s have been able to get by with a four-man rotation recently. Eflin was the most recent injury, landing on the IL April 8th. Since then, the off-days on April 10th and 14th gave the club some natural breathing room. But they are now halfway through a six-game stretch and then an off-day on Monday will be followed by nine straight.
Young will come up and make at least one start to keep the rotation on track. He could perhaps stay a bit longer but the O’s will have Kyle Gibson entering the mix eventually. Gibson signed in the second half of March and agreed to be optioned in order to ramp up after missing spring training. He has made two Triple-A starts thus far, both between three and four innings long, so he shouldn’t be too far off.
Perhaps Young will just get one start for now or perhaps he’ll stick around for a lengthier stay. That will likely depend upon his own performance as well as the health of the other pitchers on the roster going forward.
Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images
Orioles Select Kade Strowd, Brandon Young
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.