Orioles can’t afford to screw up and send this reliever back to the minors this spring

The Baltimore Orioles have a somewhat fraught history when it comes to the timing of prospect promotions. In the cases of Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson, they immediately made the Orioles better and are usually among the best in the game at their respective positions. However, we have also seen where they have kept guys down too long or promoted them too early (looking at you, Jackson Holliday). If one Orioles insider is right, Baltimore could end up making yet another mistake along these very lines.

Kade Strowd was a delightful surprise in 2025. While his impact was limited due to only seeing action in 25 games, Strowd's numbers looked really good and it felt like there was a chance that he could be in line for some high leverage innings in 2026.

However, analysis from Orioles insider Roch Kubatko suggests that while Strowd was impressive in his first look at the big leagues, he is far from a lock to make the Opening Day bullpen.

Kade Strowd should be a near-lock to making Opening Day roster, but somehow isn't

An unfortunate part of spring training and the subsequent roster building is that teams have to think about more than putting the best team on the field. With baseball having such a long season, teams like the Orioles have to think about building the best organizational depth chart they can and that often means keeping lesser players who don't have minor league options around while stashing better options in the minor leagues (at least initially). That way, the team has more depth and options during the twists and turns of the regular season.

According Kubatko, Strowd could be a potential victim here as it sounds like he and Rico Garcia are competing for basically the same roster spot. Garcia had some good moments in 2025 to be sure, but Strowd outclassed him with a 1.71 ERA and 2.05 FIP across a very similar sample size. However, Garcia does not have any minor league options left, while Strowd still has two and in this world, sending Strowd down is basically the only way to keep both players beyond an injury or something else unforeseen.

That would be a shame as some of Strowd's advanced metrics look even better than his strong production on the field. The 28-year old power righty was elite across the board when it comes to limiting hard contact and avoiding barrels while maintaining reasonable to good chase rates and whiff rates. Strowd does need to tone down the walks, but the rest is pretty stellar.

Unfortunately, being better than the other options may not be enough to earn an Opening Day roster spot with the Orioles this year.