Kyle Bradish’s return was great, but Orioles have a lot of work to do on their rotation

Towards the end of August, Kyle Bradish took a major league mound for the first time in 438 days and showed all of baseball what they were missing when he racked up 10 strikeouts in six innings in the Orioles’ loss to the Red Sox. Bradish then followed that up with four very solid innings in a win over the Padres to start the September stretch run.

And while it was a great sign for the team, it was also a reminder of how much work they need to do in their rotation if they want to get back to being a contender in 2026. 

Getting Kyle Bradish back is not enough to turn the Orioles' rotation around

Bradish’s return to the mound, which included six rehab starts, was a long time coming for an Orioles team that’s struggled to fill the hole he left in the rotation since he underwent Tommy John surgery last June. 

Bradish’s injury first popped up ahead of the 2024 season when he sustained a partial tear in his right UCL, which led to him starting the season on the injured list. He ended up making eight starts with the Orioles that season and posted a 2.75 ERA before his elbow soreness returned in his elbow and he went under the knife. 

Although his return this year won’t change the fact this is a lost season in Baltimore, it will do nothing but good in terms of how he could help the Orioles in 2026. The biggest question is what the team’s rotation will look like around him. 

While the Orioles are going to go with a six-man rotation for the rest of the year, it remains to be seen how many of those options will be around next year. Bradish is a lock to be in the rotation for the near future (he won’t be a free agent until 2029) as is Trevor Rogers, who is in the midst of a historic season.

But for every lock, there’s a question mark. Tomoyuki Sugano and Zach Eflin are both due to be free agents after the season, Dean Kramer’s continued to look more like a back-of-rotation starter compared to a frontline starter and Cade Povich is on pace to be a negative bWAR player once again. 

The Orioles seem destined to dip into the free agency pool and be in the mix for some of the big names available, that method hasn’t brought them a ton of success recently. 

But, regardless of what they do, there’s no denying the Orioles will have their work cut out for them when it comes to building a strong rotation around Bradish. They’ve got the front of the staff figured out, now it comes to adding around the margins.

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