Orioles acquire flame-throwing former KC reliever on minor league pact

On Saturday afternoon, former KC Royals flame-throwing reliever Dylan Coleman announced on his Instagram that he'd inked a contract with the Orioles for the 2025 season. Though the team has yet to announce the move, it's being reported as a minor league contract.

Coleman was last seen with the Astros in 2024. He threw just a single inning at the major league level back in early April and spent the remainder of his time with Houston down at Triple-A Sugar Land. 2024 was the second challenging year in a row for the young righty, as he struggled to a 6.50 ERA in 36 minor league innings before being designated for assignment and released outright before the end of the year.

The most likely reasons why the Orioles signed him are his previous major league success with Kansas City back in 2021-2022, and the potential for his elite fastball velocity to return. While the four-seam velocity was down in 2024, he was regularly sitting 98-99 during those two strong years with the Royals.

The Orioles have signed former KC Royals RHP Dylan Coleman to a minor league contract for 2025

Coleman spent most of 2021 down at Triple-A but he did throw 68 innings with the big league club in 2022, pitching to an impressive 2.78 ERA with a 24.6% strikeout rate. He's long had trouble with his control but everything came together for him during that run in 2022 and left teams thinking about him as a potential late-inning arm.

The Orioles won't have to invest much to get the young righty into the organization, and it's a reasonable risk to take for a team that struggled keeping pitchers healthy in 2024. The bullpen also had more than a few performance challenges last year, so adding a guy in Coleman who has major league experience and a high ceiling isn't a bad investment.

The biggest question mark at the moment seems to be whether the righty can get his command under control. He ran an unsightly 23.9% walk rate in the minors last year, which is nowhere near good enough to play. Even in his strong 2022 season, his walk rate was nearly 13%. If the Orioles can help him find a way to keep the ball over the plate, and help him generate more swings and misses, he could be a valuable piece this year.