O's Andrew Kittredge adds further depth and late-inning options for bullpen

The Orioles one-year agreement with a club option with right-handed pitcher Andrew Kittredge made the team's strength a bit stronger. The bullpen looks pretty good with a clear eight you would project today to start the year in the bullpen.

That eight includes the club welcoming back All-Star closer Félix Bautista. From the right side, there is also Kittredge, Yennier Cano, Seranthony Domínguez and a long man in Albert Suárez, who right now projects more in the ‘pen than rotation.

From the left side the O’s have Keegan Akin, coming off his big 2024 year, along with Gregory Soto and Cionel Pérez.

The club will clearly be careful and cautious early on with Bautista coming back from Tommy John surgery. If he returns to previous form that would be huge for this team. Remember the guy has a 1.85 ERA, 0.924 WHIP with 14.1 strikeouts per nine in two MLB seasons. At his best, he is among the best closers in the game, a 2023 All-Star when he finished 11^th for the American League Cy Young Award.

But as they work him in slowly and perhaps are wary of using him back-to-back games to start the year, they now have many other options for the late innings.

Of the eight pitchers we projected in the Opening Day bullpen, all eight have at least one career save. Soto, an All-Star in 2021 and 2022, has 55 career saves, Bautista has 48, Domínguez has 38, Kittredge 16 and Cano 13. Lot of options to help Bautista in the ninth to begin the year. Not to mention how all those pitchers have plenty of experience pitching in big spots in the seventh and eighth.

If we forgot how good Bautista can be, in 2023 he scored in the 100^th percentile (the very best in the game) in expected ERA, expected batting average, whiff percentage and K percentage. He got a 60.2 whiff rate on his splitter and 63.6 on his slider, now giving him a top-third pitch. That is some crazy swing-and-miss. 

While Cano and Pérez had 2024 seasons that did not stack up to earlier years with the Orioles, we know what they bring and are capable of. Soto got off to a terrible start after he was traded to the Orioles, allowing eight runs his first three games. Then in his last 20 games of last season, he allowed two earned runs over 16 1/3 for a 1.10 ERA and .559 OPS against. Kittredge, an All-Star in 2021 who pitched to a 2.70 ERA in 2024 for St. Louis, also produced a 100th-percentile chase rate in both those seasons. His slider can be a real weapon.

There is one area of concern and that is a lack of optionable pitchers in this bullpen. Of the eight, only Bautista, Akin and Cano can be optioned. But on the 40-man roster, the O’s have some lesser experienced pitchers who could factor into the ‘pen over the season with options to include lefty Luis Gonzalez and righties Colin Selby and Kade Strowd. Bryan Baker is out of options but starting candidates who could wind up in the ‘pen at some point like Trevor Rogers, Chayce McDermott, Cade Povich and Brandon Young all have options. Righty Roansy Contreras, 25, acquired off waivers Friday from Cincinnati, also provides bullpen depth for the Orioles, but is also out of options. 

This is also a ‘pen that can bring some gas. Here are average velocities from 2024 and in Bautista’s case, 2023.

99.5 mph – Félix Bautista

97.9 mph – Seranthony Domínguez

97.8 mph – Gregory Soto

96.6 mph – Yennier Cano

96.5 mph – Cionel Pérez

Kittredge averaged 94.7 mph on his two-seamer and 94.0 on his four-seam fastball. Contreras averaged 94.7 on his four-seamer and 94.5 on the two-seam.