Surprise Orioles lefty building a strong case to make the Opening Day rotation

After a week long blackout, many Baltimore Orioles fans tuned into the Birds' spring training game on March 1 against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Sophomore phenom Paul Skenes was on the bump for the Pirates, facing off against O's lefty Cade Povich as the teams had a rematch of last year’s spring breakout.  While Skenes is exciting to watch every time he takes the field, he was out dueled by his counterpart.

Skenes pitched 3.0 innings and surrendered one run on four hits and a walk while striking out four. Povich allowed just one hit and one walk while striking out six Pirates over 3.0 innings. After 2.0 perfect innings in his 2025 debut, Povich has now allowed just two base runners over 5.0 innings with seven strikeouts. 

After struggling with his control last season, Povich has looked very sharp so far this spring. He’s been able to locate all six of his pitches and appears to be pitching with confidence. The current rotation projection has Povich on the outside looking in.

Could Orioles' lefty Cade Povich break into the Opening Day rotation in Baltimore?

The top four will be Grayson Rodriguez, Zach Eflin, Tomoyuki Sugano and Charlie Morton in some order. The fifth spot is Dean Kremer’s to lose. Entering his sixth major league season, Kremer has established himself as a solid back end starter. His biggest problem is his consistency, or lack thereof. It seems that for almost every great start Kremer puts together, he implodes in another. 

Kremer had nine quality starts last season plus an additional 5.0 inning scoreless outing where he struck out eight batters. He also had six outings of less than five innings and gave up five earned runs of more in four of those. With a career 4.28 ERA Kremer should not just be guaranteed a spot in the rotation. 

To make matters a bit more complicated, Kremer gave up two runs on three hits, including a home run, and walked two batters over 2.0 innings in his first outing this spring. It's just one spring outing and he bounced back nicely in his second appearance surrendering just one hit over 3.0 innings. Kremer is going to need to be on his game to hold off Povich. 

Earlier this offseason I did project Povich to jump Kremer in the rotation. Povich has a higher ceiling and could have an advantage because he’s left handed. The Birds top four starters are all right handers and Camden Yards is designed to favor left handed pitchers. No decisions are being made this early in spring training but this is a race worth keeping an eye on.