For the second season in three years, the Orioles will be without one of the best relief pitchers in baseball.
Félix Bautista broke out in 2023 to become perhaps the most dominant strikeout pitcher in the major leagues. Since, he’s missed the 2024 season recovering from elbow surgery, and he’ll likely be out all of 2026 making his way back from shoulder surgery.
There’s no filling Bautista’s large shoes, but the closer the Orioles signed this winter was one of the best on the market. After a down second half of 2025, Ryan Helsley is hoping to bounce back with Baltimore this season after signing a two-year, $28 million contract.
Helsley’s ability to be a lockdown closer will be pivotal to the Orioles’ success this season, but the makeup of the rest of the relief corps remains a much bigger question facing Baltimore.
Ahead of spring training beginning next week, The Baltimore Sun is breaking down the roster position by position. After examining behind the plate, the infield and the outfield, here’s a look at the Orioles’ relief pitchers.
Opening day candidates
The Orioles will have about 20 pitchers in camp competing for the eight bullpen spots. However, many of those pitchers are unlikely to earn one of those spots, while others, assuming health, are locks.
Helsley, Andrew Kittredge and Keegan Akin are guaranteed to have spots in the bullpen given their long track records of success as big league relievers. The Orioles reacquired Kittredge to open the offseason, getting him back in a trade with the Chicago Cubs, while Akin is coming off back-to-back solid seasons for Baltimore.
Yennier Cano and Dietrich Enns have inside tracks to make the opening day roster after the former’s rough 2025 and the latter’s impressive second half in Baltimore. Cano has minor league options remaining but should be a bounce-back candidate if he looks like himself this spring. Enns is optionless, but he signed a one-year, $2.6 million contract this offseason with a team option, making it likely that the Orioles give him a crack to stick with the club in 2026.
Enns would fit in a Swiss Army knife role, which could make it difficult for Albert Suárez to make the team as a nonroster invitee. But Suárez was instrumental to the team’s success in 2024, and it’s possible that he proves his way onto the roster as a long reliever this spring.
Kade Strowd and Rico Garcia could be on the bubble when spring begins. Strowd impressed as a rookie and Garcia had a career revival, but both will have to continue that production this spring to break camp with the big club.
Tyler Wells headlines a group of starting pitchers who could be converted into long relievers, including Cade Povich, Brandon Young and Chayce McDermott. Whether that happens depends on the vibrancy of the starting rotation at the end of spring training.
The other short relief options on the 40-man roster include Grant Wolfram, Colin Selby, Yaramil Hiraldo, Jose Espada, Cameron Foster and Anthony Nunez. Nonroster invitees Hans Crouse, Eric Torres, Enoli Paredes and Josh Walker are relievers who could pitch their way into the equation this spring.
Biggest question
If the Orioles don’t sign Framber Valdez or another arm, it’s quite possible that Tyler Wells would end spring training as one of their five best starting pitchers. But he is also perhaps their third-best reliever.
Wells’ role in 2026 will be one of the most important questions the Orioles will have to answer this spring.
It’s a difficult decision because of Wells’ success as a starter. In 50 career big league starts, Wells has a 4.11 ERA and a 1.09 WHIP. He put up an All-Star-caliber first half in 2023, and he posted a 2.91 ERA in four starts last year after his return from elbow surgery.
But he’s been even better as a reliever. In 67 career relief innings, Wells has a 3.49 ERA and a 0.79 WHIP with a higher strikeout rate.
A back end of Helsley, Kittredge and Wells has the potential to be a solid trio for Baltimore should the Orioles commit to putting Wells in the bullpen.
X factor
One of the benefits of the Orioles selling at the deadline last year is it opened opportunities for players that otherwise would’ve likely been blocked.
Enns, Garcia, Strowd, Hiraldo, Wolfram and others received extended tryouts that might help them make the team this spring. But the most intriguing name in that group is Strowd.
A 2019 selection, Strowd was the first pitcher drafted by Mike Elias to make his MLB debut with the Orioles when he did so last year. Strowd was never a top prospect, but he developed an interesting pitch mix — three fastballs (cutter, four-seam and sinker) with two breaking balls (curveball and sweeper) — that made him effective at getting weak contact in his first stint in the majors. The righty posted a 1.71 ERA and 1.10 WHIP in 25 relief appearances. If he had thrown enough innings to qualify, Strowd would have ranked among the top of the league in ground ball percentage and average exit velocity.
Among every reliever on the Orioles’ roster, Strowd might have the widest range of outcomes of them all. If 2025 was an outlier, he could spend most of the season in Triple-A. If it wasn’t, he could emerge as a dominant setup man behind Helsley.
Have a news tip? Contact Jacob Calvin Meyer at jameyer@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/JCalvinMeyer.
