The Orioles are finally getting what they need from the rotation
Coming into the season, the Orioles expected their rotation to be solid yet unremarkable. After a brutal April, it seems like they are finally starting to meet those expectations.
It is impossible to understate what a disaster the Orioles rotation was for the first month of the 2025 season. Injuries decimated the depth that the front office thought they had built up over the winter, and those that were healthy largely put together career-worst performances. It was brutal. Now in May, things have turned around in a significant way.
Over nine games this month, the unit’s ERA is a passable 4.11, while their 3.97 FIP is even rosier. In April, those numbers were 6.04 and 5.75, respectively. Make no mistake, they are still leaps and bounds away from the league’s elite. But these outcomes represent a dramatic improvement, something closer to what the unit was expected to do coming into the season.
Tomoyuki Sugano has been the lone healthy and productive Orioles pitcher all season long. He is yet to allow more than three runs in any one start, and he has been at his best in May. Over two starts, he has tossed 13.1 innings and has a 2.03 ERA.
Dean Kremer has bounced back in a big way from a tough opening month. He has thrown seven innings in back-to-back starts and coughed up a total of two runs in that time. His season ERA is down from 7.04 at the end of April to 5.29 now.