Orioles pitcher Kyle Bradish feels ‘normal’ but expects to have innings limit

SARASOTA, Fla. — The last time Kyle Bradish had a normal spring training, he finished fourth in American League Cy Young voting that season.

But since his breakout 2023 season, Bradish hasn’t been healthy during the spring. The Orioles right-hander missed most of camp in 2024 while making his way back from platelet-rich plasma injections, and then was out last spring recovering from Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery.

That’s why Bradish is happy to finally be healthy.

“It’s nice to feel like a normal player,” he said Sunday.

Still, Bradish knows this year won’t be without some guardrails. Ahead of his first full season back from Tommy John surgery, Bradish said he expects to have some form of workload constraints.

“To, I don’t know, pitch a full season, whatever that looks like right now,” Bradish said when asked what type of workload he prepared for this offseason. “I think there’s going to be some innings limits, but as of right now, I’m full go.”

Orioles president of baseball operations Mike Elias said Wednesday that the club hasn’t discussed setting an “artificial innings limit” on Bradish this season, instead choosing to see how the season progresses.

“He’s in a terrific spot physically, and he’s looking great,” Elias said. “I think we’re going to just work with him and take it as it comes. I think he’s in the mindset of going out and pitching as much as he possibly can, but certainly, we know there’s a lot of innings to cover this year.”

After his stellar sophomore season in 2023, in which Bradish posted a 2.83 ERA in 168 2/3 innings, he missed the first month of 2024 and started only eight games (with a sparkling 2.75 ERA) before tearing his ulnar collateral ligament. He returned in August and was as stellar as ever, pitching to a 2.53 ERA in six starts with a 37.3% strikeout rate.

Those six starts were critical for Bradish as a platform heading into the offseason and 2026. But he still pitched only 54 innings between the minors and majors last year, making it difficult to imagine him pitching upward of 180 to 200 innings, as well as the goal of a potential postseason run.

There are several ways the Orioles could limit Bradish’s workload this season. The simplest way is to have him on a pitch count for some starts, perhaps resulting in more starts between four and five innings than ones between six and seven frames. The team could also periodically skip Bradish’s starts so he makes approximately 28 starts instead of the standard 30 to 32. Or Baltimore could operate a six-man rotation — a format for which they have the depth with Dean Kremer and Zach Eflin as the club’s Nos. 5 and 6 starters — which would lighten Bradish’s workload.

Orioles skipper Craig Albernaz said Bradish’s input will be the “biggest driver” in determining the constraints placed on him during the season.

“If he’s feeling great and he’s doing everything right in the weight room, in the training room, and he’s diligent on his throwing program and bullpens, that’s where we’re just going to lean on him,” Albernaz said. “If he’s feeling great, we’re not going to run him out there for 130 pitches an outing, but we’ll be mindful of his workload. He’s going to have a huge voice in that. The days where he’s feeling sluggish or grindy or he’s feeling it, yeah, we might pull back a little bit. To me, it’s all about how KB is feeling and what our medical team and strength team is saying.”

Albernaz said the opening day starter job will be a competition this spring. While he didn’t name the candidates for the job, it’s assumed to be between Bradish and Trevor Rogers.

When asked about his confidence in the Orioles’ 1-2 of Bradish and Rogers, Albernaz replied, “Are they the 1-2?” He paused for three seconds, smiled and said, “Yeah, probably,” with a chuckle.

“With Bradish and [Rogers], they’re going to push each other, and the rest of the group is going to push each other — not in a competitive way, but in a way to just get better in the development,” Albernaz said.

Bradish is likely the front-runner for the job given his track record of success and dominance when he’s been healthy. But Rogers is coming off a historic campaign in which he posted a 1.81 ERA in 18 starts. It’s assumed some regression is coming Rogers’ way this season, but it didn’t look that way during his live bullpen session Saturday when the southpaw struck out seven of the 10 batters he faced.

“I don’t know how much competition it is after that performance yesterday from Rogers,” Bradish quipped, adding it doesn’t matter to him where he’s slotted in the rotation.

Orioles pitcher Trevor Rogers struck out 5 of the first 6 batters he faced during his live bullpen session Saturday during spring training in Sarasota, Florida.

: Matt Weyrich, Jacob Meyer, @baltimoresun pic.twitter.com/UPboirkZdd

— The Baltimore Sun (@baltimoresun) February 14, 2026