How the Baltimore Orioles went from raw talent to really good
-
Tim Kurkjian, ESPN Senior Writer
BALTIMORE — A WEEK into the 2023 season, the New York Yankees came to Baltimore. It was far too early to tell in which direction the Orioles might go, whether they would build on their 83-79 season in 2022, their first year with a winning record since 2016. Ahead of the series, Orioles manager Brandon Hyde was typically reposed, never agitated, never flustered. He flashed his signature smile to an approaching writer.
“Team is good,” the writer said.
“Team is talented,” Hyde said.
There is a difference, especially in baseball, between talented and good. Just ask the 2023 San Diego Padres, who have tremendous talent yet remain under .500. The Orioles have great young talent, and over the past four months, a relatively short time, they have gone from talented to really good. They have the best record in the American League, only two years removed from finishing 39 games out of fourth place in the AL East. From 2018 through 2021, the Orioles had the worst winning percentage (.326) of any team over a four-year period since the 1962-65 Mets (.300). Now, the Orioles have a chance to join the 1969 Mets as the only teams in baseball history to go from 100 losses to 100 wins in a three-year span.
“It has been an awesome season, but we haven’t won anything yet,” Orioles general manager Mike Elias said. “The process is still on the way up, but the rebuild is over. There is a sense of relief that it worked. It has rejuvenated baseball in this city. That is so cool to see.”
This, after all, is a franchise that, from 1966 to 1983, was the model in baseball. The Orioles posted a .588 winning percentage (the best in baseball) and won world championships in 1966, 1970 and 1983. They were so good for so long that, in 1969, Hall of Fame manager Earl Weaver growled to no one on the team bus after losing a game late in the season, “Damn, it’s hard to stay 50 games over .500!”
Highs and lows, mostly lows, followed the 1983 championship season, which was celebrated last weekend at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The 1988 Orioles lost their first 21 games, demolishing the major league record for most consecutive losses to start a season. After American League Championship Series appearances in 1996 and 1997, more struggles ensued before the team made the playoffs three times from 2012 to ’16. But in 2018, the Orioles finished 61 games behind the Red Sox in the AL East, the furthest from first place that any team has finished since the 1942 Phillies finished 62½ out.
After that season, Elias, 40, one of the architects of the championship rebuild of the Houston Astros (in town this week in a possible AL playoff preview), was named the general manager. From Houston, he brought Sig Mejdal, a statistical wizard for multiple teams, a former NASA engineer, a former blackjack dealer, and made him his assistant general manager. Elias and Mejdal promised, like in Houston, a similarly slow, methodical rebuild. Elias was questioned many times along the way by impatient fans. More severe critics claimed the Orioles were tanking in order to build a better farm system.
And then the 2022 season happened.
THE TRANSFORMATION FROM terrible to talented to good began quietly, on April 24 of that year. The Orioles were 6-10, with no sign of escaping last place, or even getting better, anytime soon. They had clawed back from a 6-0 deficit against the Los Angeles Angels only to lose 7-6 on a run scored after two walks and a hit batter in the next inning. Orioles outfielder Anthony Santander was hit by a pitch for a second straight game, and, Hyde said, “we decided right then that we’re not going to take it anymore. We’re coming.”
It took another month before the transformation began publicly, when catcher Adley Rutschman, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2019 draft out of Oregon State, made his major league debut on May 21. Since that day, the Orioles have the fourth-best record in baseball; they have not been swept in a series. That is not a coincidence. Rutschman has been that good. He is a switch-hitter with power and born leader whose defense is so advanced that some talent evaluators insist that he was ready to catch in the major leagues when he was a freshman in college.
“I can’t believe how short a time it took for him to take control of the staff,” said former Orioles pitcher Jordan Lyles. “Within a week, whatever finger he put down, that’s what I threw.”
It wasn’t that any of this came as a surprise, exactly. Rutschman won the 2019 Golden Spikes Award for the best college baseball player in the country. He has caught since Little League, even though he didn’t become a full-time catcher until his senior year in high school. Until then, he also played third base, second base and was the team’s closer.
“I was just trying to be as athletic as possible,” he said.
He also was a terrific high school football player in Oregon, a star running back, linebacker and place-kicker. He went to Oregon State on a baseball scholarship but also was the kicker on the football team. His longest field goal was 63 yards. Famously, in a game against Stanford, he tackled star running back Christian McCaffrey on a kickoff return.
Does McCaffrey know he was tackled that day by the Orioles catcher?
“I’m sure he has no idea who I am,” Rutschman said humbly. Has Rutschman ever met McCaffrey?
“No, the only time was that day,” Rutschman said humbly, with a smile.
Rutschman smiles a lot these days. His team is winning, Orioles fans are jazzed about the present and the future, and Rutschman made the All-Star team for the first time this year. At the All-Star Game, he competed in the Home Run Derby. With his father as his BP pitcher, Rutschman hit 27 homers in the first round. Though he lost to Derby winner Vlad Guerrero, he had one of the event’s signature moments when, in the middle of the round, he switched to right-handed and hit six straight homers.
“My dad has thrown BP to me my whole life,” Rutschman said. “Sometimes, we’d finish a round saying, ‘OK, these last five are for the Home Run Derby.’ Life is full for all of us right now.”
With just over a year in the major leagues, some have called Rutschman the best catcher in the game and a future Hall of Famer. His marvelous smile disappears when that is mentioned.
“I tune all that out,” he said. “I just want to play and win with these guys. We just show up to the field with a common purpose. It has been awesome for me to be part of their journey.”
ANOTHER ORIOLE WHOSE talent has never been in question is infielder Gunnar Henderson, 22, a second-round pick in the 2021 draft. After he was called up on Aug. 31, 2022, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said: “He’s going to be a problem.”
Even considering a slow start at the plate this season, he already has been. Because, in part, like Rutschman, Henderson is a great athlete: 6-foot-3, 220 pounds. Fast. Powerful. He was also a great basketball player in high school in Selma, Alabama.
“If I had concentrated as much on basketball as much as I did on baseball as a kid,” Henderson said, shyly, “I probably could have played basketball in college. Maybe the NBA.”
That athleticism allows him to play multiple infield positions although now he is their primary shortstop, with an exceptional throwing arm. He has run the bases with daring aggression: When the Orioles seized first place in the AL East in a stirring series against the Rays after the All-Star break, Henderson doubled to left field, and when Tampa Bay left fielder Randy Arozarena lazily returned the ball to the infield, Henderson took a vacated third base for a triple. It was a signature moment for Henderson and a play that personified this young, hungry team: A great athlete created an advantage by pushing the action. Orioles bench coach Fredi Gonzalez has a nickname for Henderson: Clifford the Big Red Dog, because “all you have to do is throw a ball in the air, and he’ll run after it. That’s Clifford.”
A line of .189/.348/.311 in March and April has climbed to .243/.331/.477 on the year, including an impressive .994 OPS in June.
“We told him not to be afraid to swing earlier in the count,” Hyde said. “He has taken off.” Since the start of June, Henderson has hit 14 home runs and driven in 37 runs, making him a leading candidate for AL Rookie of the Year. He has also become a hero in his hometown.
“It’s been awesome how great it has been, everyone in our small town knows each other,” Henderson said. “It’s not that small, there are 20,000 people there. But from our high school, I know everyone’s parents and grandparents.”
They all know Gunnar, such a unique name.
“I get asked enough about my name, I finally asked my parents why they named me that,” Henderson said. “They were in the [birthing] room. They just decided on Gunnar. That’s it.”
THE TRANSFORMATION FROM talented to good also included the development of closer Felix Bautista, 28, who was claimed off waivers by the Orioles from the Marlins at age 19 and spent the first five years of his career in rookie ball trying to figure out how to throw strikes.
“I wouldn’t have known his name [in 2020] if you said it, but he kept throwing 100 [mph],” Elias said.
In April 2022, Bautista made his major league debut as a middle reliever. He was already throwing 100, but then he began to throw more strikes, and he became the closer when Jorge Lopez was traded to the Twins in late July. Then, Elias was criticized for trading his closer in the middle of a pennant race. But this year, Bautista made the All-Star team, has a league-leading 30 saves, an 0.85 ERA and 102 strikeouts in 52 2/3 innings (he blew a rare save against the Astros on Tuesday when Kyle Tucker hit a grand slam off Bautista’s 100 mph fastball). At 6-8, 285, he is as big as a doorway, and he has become one of the dominant, intimidating pitchers in baseball.
“And,” Elias said, “he is as emotionally stable as any closer I’ve ever seen.”
The pitcher whom Elias acquired in the Lopez trade with the Twins was Yennier Cano, 28, who posted an 11.25 ERA in 18 innings in 2022, his first year in the major leagues. He had great stuff but also couldn’t throw enough strikes. So, in spring training, the Orioles told Cano to stay with one arm slot, stop varying it, and suddenly, the strikes arrived. He didn’t allow a run in his first 17 appearances, made the All-Star team and now has a 1.86 ERA.
In 2021, the Orioles’ bullpen ERA was 5.70, the highest in baseball. In 2023, it is 3.60, fifth lowest in baseball.
And everyone in Baltimore is so relieved.
PLENTY OF OTHER talents have emerged during the Orioles’ transformation. Kyle Bradish, Cionel Perez, Mike Baumann and Bryan Baker have blossomed since 2021. Dean Kremer‘s ERA dropped from 7.55 in 2021 to 3.23. Dillon Tate (who has missed all of this season) posted a 3.05 ERA.
“In spring training,” Hyde said, “I had no idea what our pitching staff was going to look like. And then about eight pitchers stepped forward during the season.”
Position players bloomed alongside holdover outfielders Cedric Mullins, Ryan Mountcastle, Austin Hays and Santander, a Rule V acquisition in 2016. Ramon Urias, claimed off waivers from the Cardinals in 2021, won a Gold Glove at third base in 2022. Shortstop Jorge Mateo, who led the AL with 35 stolen bases in 2022, was claimed off waivers from the Padres in 2021. In January 2023, the Orioles grabbed first baseman Ryan O’Hearn from the Royals. His OPS has jumped from .611 to .860.
This year, more kids from the game’s best farm system have debuted, starting with Grayson Rodriguez, one of the top young pitching prospects in baseball and the future ace of the Orioles’ staff. Infielder Jordan Westburg followed, a player Hyde describes as “just another 6-2, 220-pounder who can run.” Then came outfielder Colton Cowser.
And more are on the way. Outfielder Heston Kjerstad could be a star in the major leagues someday. And the best of the group, if not the best player in the minor leagues, is shortstop Jackson Holliday, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 draft. He was recently promoted to Double-A, where he is tearing it up. It’s possible that he will start next season with the Orioles. He will be the Orioles’ shortstop of the future — unless it’s Henderson. The other will be the third baseman of the future. Imagine the next five years in Baltimore, Holliday and Henderson playing next to each other on the left side of the infield, two of the best young players in baseball.
For this pennant race, under intense pressure to make a trade for a veteran starting pitcher at the deadline, Elias dealt for Jack Flaherty, 27, the former ace of the Cardinals. In his Orioles debut Aug. 3 against Toronto, Flaherty pitched six solid innings and became the first Oriole to strike out eight and walk one in his major league debut since Tom Phoebus in 1966.
“I just got here, it was fun, but I’m glad it’s over,” Flaherty said the next day. “I barely had time to introduce myself to everyone, then I was out there. It was like …’Hi … and bye.”‘
So now the Orioles have the best record in the AL and have perhaps the league’s most exciting team, with a great set of baseball names: Gunnar, Grayson, Adley, King Felix, the lyrical Anthony Santander and the regal Ryan Mountcastle. This is a team set up to win for years to come.
“We now have flexibility on the roster, every player we have can play three positions, we have great balance between left-handed and right-handed hitters,” Elias said. “And we haven’t had a moment of drama in the clubhouse. I’ll say that I object to people saying that we were tanking it. When we got to Houston and rebuilt it, and then to Baltimore, when we got to each place, things were bad. We had to tear it down to make it as good as possible.”
The Orioles, now, are very good. From talented to very good.
We’re back! It’s the race that stops the nation and, in 2025, it’s shaping to be another classic. Vauban returns for a third attempt under a new camp, alongside former stablemate Absurde. Champion trainer Chris Waller dominates the field with five runners, while history will be made with the first-ever American-trained horse taking part. Half Yours is the favourite and will fly the flag for the locals.
But outside of that, there are plenty more races to sink your teeth into. Not sure who to back? Not to worry, as we take you through the best selections and some value runners in Tuesday’s 10-race card at the glorious Flemington racecourse.
TAB fixed odds correct as of 9am AEDT, 3rd November, 2025 (please visit tab.com.au for the latest).
RACE 1 – Darley Maribyrnong Plate (1000m), 10:45am
With only three of the 14 runners having race experience and the track set to be rain-affected, this is a tough way to kick off Cup Day. On exposed form, Tornado Valley was held up at a key stage in the Debutant Stakes but hit the line strongly once clear behind Free Flying. Among the unraced brigade, Carnevale and Diameter have shown glimpses in jump outs and could be anything on debut, while Brazen Dechambeau displayed a nice turn of foot when asked for an effort in his Cranbourne jumpout.
Top selections:
2. Tornado Valley ($7.00)
3. Brazen Dechambeau ($7.00)
5. Diameter ($6.00)
4. Carnevale ($4.80)
8. Free Flying ($11.00)
RACE 2 – MA Services Grand Handicap (2000m), 11:20am
It’s hard to go past Makdane, who’s in good form, maps nicely from barrier 1, and should handle the soft ground. Brave Miss will make her own luck up on speed, her last-start win at Cranbourne looks strong, and she finished third behind She’s A Hustler prior to that, who franked the form with a Group 3 Tesio Stakes win on Cox Plate Day. Party Crasher can be forgiven for the first-up run and I expect him to improve rising in distance second-up.
Top selections:
3. Makdane ($3.90)
7. Brave Miss ($6.50)
10. Party Crasher ($7.00)
14. Giggenbach ($7.50)
RACE 3 – TAB Trophy (1800m), 12:00pm
There looks to be a fair bit of value here. I’ve got Snitz Sonic on top, he’s been the strongest late in both of his runs and couldn’t have been more emphatic in his Echuca win. Arabian Prince was unlucky not to get a start in the 2500m Victoria Derby but will instead race at 1800m, he did seem to peak on his run late in the Caulfield Classic but profiles to be a contender here. Champagne Hero and Different Gravy both look like they have a bit to offer, and Island Boy looks a sneaky chance at big odds.
Top selections:
8. Snitz Sonic ($11.00)
9. Arabian Prince ($3.80)
3. Champagne Hero ($4.60)
4. Different Gravy ($4.60)
6. Island Boy ($41.00)
READ: 2025 Melbourne Cup field – complete guide
RACE 4 – The Schweppervescence Plate (1000m), 12:40pm
Bold Secret is having his third start for Phillip Stokes and looks to have plenty of upside. He was strong late off a slow tempo on debut, clocking the fastest final 200m of the race, before enduring a tough run wide without cover at The Valley. Drawn to get a softer run this time. Pallaton has been tackling stronger company than this, gets James McDonald on, and is a clear danger. As it Street Artist who is flying with consecutive wins for Team Freedman and warrants respect again.
Top selections:
9. Bold Secret ($9.00)
4. Street Artist ($4.40)
2. Pallaton ($2.70)
1. Aleppo Pine ($7.50)
RACE 5 – Australian Heritage Cup (2800m), 1:20pm
Golden Century looks ready to step up to 2800m and he’s a big-striding horse who will appreciate the big Flemington track over the tighter Caulfield circuit, where he was back in the field but closed off well last time out. Drops sharply in weight from that and looks a major player with Joao Moreira aboard. Don Diego De Vega was solid hitting the line for fourth in the Bendigo Cup, and while his Randwick run prior was below par, he hasn’t been suited by the slow tempos in recent starts. Draws kindly and handles soft ground.
Top selections:
10. Golden Century ($4.80)
3. Don Diego De Vega ($8.50)
9. Litzdeel ($4.40)
8. Arugamama ($6.50)
RACE 6 – Kirin Ichiban Plate (1800m), 1:55pm
Saint George was the eye-catcher first-up at Seymour and looks set to take big improvement from that run. The long Flemington straight plays perfectly to his strengths and, at his best, he’s more than capable of winning a race like this. Apulia was outstanding resuming after a year off, storming home from the back of the field to win and should only be fitter here. Athanatos is in terrific form this prep and his Toorak Handicap effort behind the likes of Leica Lucy, Evaporate, and Transatlantic reads well for this grade. The only query is how he handles the likely wet track.
Top selections:
5. Saint George ($4.40)
2. Apulia ($6.50)
6. Athanatos ($5.00)
3. Kingswood ($4.60)
RACE 7 – Lexus Melbourne Cup (3200m), 3:00pm
Once again, the Caulfield Cup looms as the key form reference, and it’s a race that produced several eye-catching performances. You couldn’t miss the big grey Presage Nocturne charging down the outside there. The French import is certain to improve off that run and should relish the step to 3200m at Flemington. He handles rain-affected ground, and while others may feel the pinch late, he’s proven to be able to power through the line at the end of a staying trip.
Valiant King was another standout from that race and is absolutely flying this campaign. A completely different horse this prep with the blinkers on, he was brilliant winning the Bart Cummings before unleashing the fastest closing splits in the Caulfield Cup. He gets in with a nice weight and maps for a soft run. As does Caulfield Cup winner Half Yours who deserves favouritism despite being up for a long campaign which began in a BM64 back in March. Tony and Calvin McEvoy have managed him superbly and set him to peak in the 2400m race so as much as the Melbourne Cup appears a bit of an afterthought, his wet-track ability, light weight and good draw makes him a winning chance again. Absurde returns for a third attempt at the Cup and was travelling well before being blocked for a run at his Caulfield tune-up. He was luckless last year when held up multiple times in the straight, but we know he stays, handles soft going, and maps ideally from gate four.
The Joseph O’Brien-trained Al Riffa is this year’s big boom horse. The Irish raider comes off wins in both the Irish St Leger and Curragh Cup and clearly brings elite European form. He’s earned the top weight (59kg) and history says that’s a brutal task, especially over two miles on rain-affected ground from a wide draw, but class can often defy history, and he has that in spades. The main challenge will be conceding weight to several in-form, lightly-weighted rivals.
Lightly-raced northern hemisphere three-year-old Furthur has had just eight starts and beats the handicapper with 52kg. He fits the successful profile of past winners like Rekindling and Cross Counter, as well as desperately-unlucky 2019 runner Il Paradiso. He displayed a devastating turn of foot when winning the Geoffrey Freer Stakes over 2715m two starts back, a race that has been a solid guide for the Melbourne Cup in past years. There’s a wet track query with him but he’s a good enough price to find out if he can handle it.
Buckaroo brings class and proven Group 1 Australian weight-for-age form, but the 3200m remains a genuine query and he’ll need a perfect ride to figure. German stayer Flatten The Curve is an interesting roughie in red-hot form winning six of his past seven races, and while the strength of that form is hard to line up, he’s a genuine two-miler and could surprise at decent odds. And Vauban — now under the care of Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott — while plain in the Caulfield Cup, is back on a more suitable Flemington track, gets rain-affected going, has drawn in barrier two with Blake Shinn on, and is more than capable of bouncing back.
Top selections:
6. Presage Nocturne ($9.00)
24. Valiant King ($8.50)
1. Al Riffa ($9.00)
9. Absurde ($18.00)
14. Half Yours ($7.00)
Best roughie:
17. Furthur ($26.00)
READ: 2025 Melbourne Cup field – complete guide
RACE 8 – The Amanda Elliott (1400m), 3:50pm
Ludlum was luckless on debut behind Tres Magnifique before winning a maiden at Seymour, doing it tough three wide without cover but still proving too strong. Navy Pilot was a second-up winner powering past key rival Bacash, and while he didn’t see out the mile in the Caulfield Guineas, the drop back to 1400m looks ideal. Bacash continues to hold his form well, he’s a proven wet tracker and was a dominant winner at this trip last start at Caulfield. Burma Star has won in heavy conditions and has been hitting the line well. This is tougher but he’s right in the mix.
Top selections:
15. Ludlum ($5.00)
2. Navy Pilot ($6.50)
4. Bacash ($5.50)
8. Burma Star ($9.00)
RACE 9 – The Hong Kong Jockey Club Stakes (1400m), 4:35pm
Surfin’ Bird was an arrogant winner at Caulfield last start, surging past her rivals to win by four lengths despite covering extra ground throughout, and she did it in very quick time. She’s clearly the one to beat and might simply be too good again. Pondalowie looks terrific value though as an each-way play. She’s improved with every run this prep, running the fastest last 200m at Group 2 level third-up before again closing strongly in the Vase behind Oh Too Good. She tends to get back in her races but has a blistering turn of foot and runs well at Flemington.
Top selections:
14. Pondalowie ($17.00)
15. Surfin’ Bird ($2.60)
10. Gumdrops ($7.50)
5. Bossy Nic ($13.00)
RACE 10 – Channel 9 Trophy (1400m), 5:15pm
Sabaj had no luck in the Silver Eagle. He was held up until the 100m and should have finished a lot closer to the classy Linebacker at Randwick. That’s elite form and with clear running he should be too good for these. I do have a of time for Sunshineinmypocket who had excuses last start behind Ndola. He was able to close off well with the fastest final furlong of the race and I think he can turn the tables on the winner.
Top selections:
8. Sabaj ($2.70)
7. Sunshineinmypocket ($7.00)
3. Ndola ($6.00)
12. Persian Spirit ($8.00)
Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola has a broken right fibula, sources told ESPN’s Pete Thamel on Sunday, and will sit out the remainder of the season.
Raiola suffered the injury while being sacked and losing a fumble early in the third quarter of Saturday’s 21-17 loss to USC.
After the game, Cornhuskers coach Matt Rhule told reporters that Raiola wanted to return to the game, but the sophomore couldn’t run so Rhule decided it was unsafe to send him back in.
Raiola completed 10 of 15 passes against the Trojans for 91 yards and a touchdown before the injury. He was replaced by true freshman TJ Lateef, who went 5-of-7 for 7 yards and rushed for 18 yards on six carries.
Raiola had completed 72.4% of his passes for 2,000 yards and 18 touchdowns through nine games this season. He has been intercepted six times.
The Huskers (6-3, 3-3 Big Ten) lost their 29th consecutive game to an AP Top 25 opponent, a streak that dates to 2016. They will go on the road to face UCLA next Saturday.
ESPN’s Max Olson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
-
Sports2 years agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports3 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Sports3 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment1 year agoHere are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in October 2024