When Mike Elias was the Astros’ scouting director, there was a local kid, a pitcher with a live arm, who went to high school about 30 miles north of Minute Maid Park.

Elias spent time scouting the right-hander, watching his high school games and even going to his house to meet his parents, but the youngster wasn’t on the board when the Astros selected. Eight and a half years later, Elias initiated a trade to acquire the kid who has since developed into an MLB starting pitcher.

Shane Baz, the former Pirates top prospect and Rays starting pitcher, joined the Orioles’ rotation Friday when Elias sent four prospects and a draft pick to Tampa Bay to acquire him.

Elias, the Orioles’ president of baseball operations, said during a virtual news conference Saturday that Baz is a “perfect fit” for Baltimore’s rotation

“I had a lot of familiarity with him and we know what kind of athlete he is and the ceiling that he’s got,” Elias said, recalling his days scouting Baz as a high schooler. “Obviously, we’ve ponied up for this deal. He’s a very talented pitcher. That’s hard to get your hands on, and we’re really excited to work with him.”

Baz, 26, was a top prospect in Pittsburgh after the Pirates drafted him with the No. 12 overall pick in 2017. A year later, he was traded to Tampa Bay in the Chris Archer deal, and he reached the majors at 22 years old in 2021. But Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery ended his 2022 season early and caused him to miss all of 2023.

Since returning, Baz has posted a 4.29 ERA, including a full 31 starts in 2025.

“He’s at a really good juncture after the Tommy John surgery and sort of platforming into 2026,” Elias said. “So we kind of think he’s ready to go and we’re really expecting we’re going to get the best chunk of his career here coming up.”

Baz’s 4.87 ERA in 2025 doesn’t jump off the page, but Elias believes that was a result of bad luck. In 2025, the Rays played their home games at George M. Steinbrenner Field, a minor league ballpark in Tampa, Florida, with similar dimensions as homer-friendly Yankee Stadium and much warmer weather. Baz posted a 5.90 ERA at home and a 3.86 ERA on the road.

While his ERA and WHIP were worse in 2025 than the year before, his fastball averaged 97 mph while his ability to get swings and misses and hitters to chase pitches out of the zone increased.

“We see a lot of underlying information in his statistics and his performance this year suggests that he had bad luck. A lot of it was driven by the ballpark that the Rays were playing in,” Elias said. “He’s got great underlying metrics, five-plus pitches, I think he’s got a great arm and he’s a great athlete. He hasn’t fully tapped into his ceiling yet, so we see him as a front end of the rotation starter. I think he has a ceiling to tap into being a top of the rotation starter.

“We’re not necessarily asking that of him in 2026, but he has that potential. He has one of the best starting pitcher arms in the major leagues, and he’s got really elite stuff.”

The Orioles are in the market to add starting pitchers, but the trade was a surprise given the value Baltimore gave up for Baz, who has three years remaining before he hits free agency. To acquire Baz, the Orioles traded away four of their top 30 prospects, according to MLB Pipeline: outfielder Slater de Brun, catcher Caden Bodine, right-hander Michael Forret and outfielder Austin Overn. De Brun and Bodine were two of the four first-round picks the Orioles had in the 2025 draft.

Elias was asked if the Baz trade signals a change in his willingness to trade prospects — one of the main criticisms levied against him during his tenure as Orioles general manager.

“I think I’d push back on the characterization a little bit,” Elias said. “We’ve traded a lot of prospects since we’ve turned into a good team and buyers going back to like the 2023 season and the Corbin Burnes trade and the deadline in 2024. So when we’ve had opportunities, we’ve definitely been willing to deal from the farm system.”

One former top prospect assumed to be available in a trade is first baseman Coby Mayo. Once the Orioles signed slugger Pete Alonso to a five-year, $155 million contract, it created a Polar Bear-sized logjam at first base with Alonso, Mayo and Ryan Mountcastle.

4 solutions for Orioles’ logjam at first base after Pete Alonso addition

Elias spoke positively about Mayo when asked Saturday and said the organization is considering him at other positions, including his old spot of third base or corner outfield, where he was originally assumed to land when he was drafted given his size and arm strength.

“He had, I think, a very successful stretch run last year, he looked really good and is in a really good spot,” Elias said. “There is still a lot of playing time available for him on a team that has Pete Alonso now. We have first base reps, we have designated hitter reps and the exploration of other positions — whether it’s third or something in the corner outfield — has been something we’ve always talked about with him. So the path remains open for him.”

Even with the addition of Baz, the Orioles still have a need for another front-of-the-rotation starting pitcher to pair with Kyle Bradish. Elias said his front office is going to “stay hard at work” to find rotation upgrades, whether via free agency or trades.

“I don’t think the roster is a finished product,” he said. “We’re gonna keep working and looking for opportunities to improve the team and improve the roster. … In terms of our kind of wish list at the very beginning of the offseason, we were looking for a back-end reliever, we were looking for one starting pitcher, we were looking for a big bat, and I think that we definitely checked those boxes. But there’s more that we’re going to be able to do and try to do.

“Our ownership group has put us in a really good position to explore all these things, and that’s been a huge benefit for us so far this offseason is the support that they’re providing. I also know that the American League East is certainly not finished with their activities, so we’ll just keep going.”

Have a news tip? Contact Jacob Calvin Meyer at jameyer@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/JCalvinMeyer.