The Orioles need more from this struggling veteran

With so many aspects of this Baltimore Orioles season having been bitterly disappointing, the bullpen has been something of a bright spot. Rico Garcia is off to a historic start to the season, Anthony Nunez is an exciting rookie, Dietrich Enns is proving that his 2025 season was for real, and Yennier Cano appears to have bounced back. Ryan Helsley's been hurt for a while now, but he's seven for seven in save opportunities, and that signing looks like a win for the Orioles.

With so many encouraging stories coming out of the Orioles bullpen, it's disappointing that one of the pitchers that the Orioles brought in, expecting to play a major role in their late innings operation, has been so poor.

Andrew Kittredge could still play a key role in this bullpen but the Orioles need him to figure things out quickly

The Orioles signing Andrew Kittredge, trading him away at the deadline, then trading for him back in the offseason, is a series of moves you don't see every day. Kittredge was solid for the Orioles last year and really good for the Cubs post-trade, so getting him back for cash seemed like a layup for the Orioles.

After getting injured in spring training, Kittredge missed the start of the season but made his debut before the end of April. He actually looked really solid in his first three outings, striking out four and not allowing a single run.

As soon as the calendar flipped over to May, however, things went south for Kittredge. In six May appearances, Kittredge has allowed a run in five of them. His ERA in that span is 18.69, and his FIP is 9.10. He's given up 12 hits, three walks, and 11 runs. As a cherry on top, he's allowed seven stolen bases. Nothing is going right for him.

The Orioles, to their credit, seemed to realize this after he blew back-to-back late-game appearances against Miami and have mostly been using him in low-leverage spots ever since. He hasn't been good in those spots, but at least he's serving a purpose.

The problem is that the Orioles didn't trade for Kittredge so that he could eat innings in blowout losses. He was supposed to be the setup man for Helsley and lock down the eighth inning. Now the Orioles have a rookie filling that role while Kittredge plays mop-up. Nunez has done an admirable job filling in for Kittredge while he's been scuffling, but that's a lot of pressure to put on a rookie. If Kittredge could bounce back and be the pitcher the Orioles traded for, the Orioles bullpen would be in a much better spot.

Fortunately, there is reason to believe this should be possible. For all the hits Kittredge has surrendered, most of them have not been hit very hard. There have been a lot of seeing-eye singles and bloops over the infield that, over the course of a full season, should find more gloves going forward.

It's also relevant that Kittredge's stuff looks almost identical to last year, when he was very effective. The main issue has been his slider command, which, when he can spot it, should be alternating between clipping the bottom of the zone for a called strike and diving out of the zone to create swing and miss. This year, it's mostly just been at the hitter's ankles, which makes it an easy take, except for when he's hung it, and that's when it's gotten hit hard.

As frustrating as it has been to watch Kittredge get hit around this year, the issues he's dealing with are the kinds of issues that a veteran reliever should be able to figure out. Over the next few weeks, expect him to look more like the pitcher that the Cubs had opening playoff games last year.

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