Orioles news: Felix Bautista update, Heston Kjerstad's future, and awards season

The Orioles missed Felix Bautista in 2024. While the O's had one of the best bullpens in the majors back in 2023, led by Bautista and his sparkling 1.48 ERA, things flipped this year and the group put up one of the worst performances in the league.

Bautista's absence led to the Craig Kimbrel signing, which turned out to be a disaster. Behind Kimbrel, the group struggled. Even mid-season additions including Seranthony Dominguez and Gregory Soto had their issues and in the end, the O's posted the 5th worst bullpen ERA in the AL with a mark of 4.22.

Thankfully we got news on Monday, via Roch Kubatko of MASN, that Bautista is set to return at full capacity for spring training in 2025. With so much up in the air regarding what the bullpen will look like next year, it's good to know that the Orioles will have a legitimate stud ready to close down games again.

Assuming Bautista stays healthy, it'll take a lot of pressure off the rest of the guys in the 'pen. Cionel Perez, Yennier Cano, and Keegan Akin will all be back. It's unclear whether the O's will bring Dominguez and Soto back as of yet, but both could be more useful in low-leverage spots anyway.

Would a position change really be the best thing for Heston Kjerstad?

Jon Meoli of The Baltimore Banner recently suggested that the Orioles could consider using Kjerstad in a similar role to that of Ryan O'Hearn in 2025. Kjerstad isn't an elite outfield defender but he's capable of playing well enough in the corners. However, he could also potentially fill in at first base moving forward, despite never having done so previously.

If the O's want to shift Kjerstad to first, he could function in more of a platoon role with Ryan Mountcastle. Moving Kjerstad to the infield would potentially free up an outfield spot for a top-tier free agent. It would also give the Orioles reason to avoid picking up O'Hearn's $8 million club option.

O'Hearn has been a really solid player for the Orioles the past two seasons. He's not a great defender and there are reasons to think that he'll start to regress a bit as he enters his age 31 season, but the contract isn't prohibitively expensive.

It would be an interesting decision to shift Kjerstad to first base in order to improve his flexibility and opportunity for playing time. But putting him in unfamiliar territory and dumping a viable player in O'Hearn might not be the smartest move. We'll see what happens.

Colton Cowser in line to win Most Outstanding Rookie in Players Choice awards

Each year, the MLBPA release the Players Choice awards, which are concurrent but different from the BBWAA awards that we're more familiar with. The MLBPA announced finalists for a number of awards on Monday evening and Orioles' star rookie Colton Cowser was named in the top three for the Outstanding Rookie Award.

Cowser had an exceptional rookie season and will likely be a finalist for the BBWAA version of the award as well. In 153 games, Cowser hit .242/.321/.447 with 24 homers, 9 steals, and 69 RBI. He chipped in strong outfield defense, primarily playing in the corners but filling in for Cedric Mullins in center and doing a fine job of it.

Cowser is up against catcher Austin Wells of the Yankees and outfielder Wilyer Abreu of the Red Sox. Those two present tough competition but Cowser has a good chance to win.