Orioles’ Elias on Kjerstad, Rutschman, Bradish, Rodriguez, Rogers, Wells, O’Neill

Besides talking about the search for a new manager and general manager on Monday, Orioles president of operations Mike Elias spoke about some players.

Heston Kjerstad’s absence

“Heston has been working with our doctors and other doctors on a medical condition. He’s responded favorably to some treatment and some different treatments that they’ve done recently and he’s in a good spot right now and pointed in the right direction. We’re going to see him in spring training and I’m really looking forward to that, because we missed the real Heston Kjerstad  this year. I don’t want to go into any more detail.”

Adley Rutschman

“Yes, Adley’s a guy, he will be our front-line catcher. Frustrating season for him coming off of a frustrating second half, and he’s aware of it, we’re all aware of it. We’re all working on it. There was some injuries sprinkled in this year that I think were a factor in him kind of getting out of sync again. We saw flashes of him offensively the way that he can and should be.

“I thought he had a great defensive season, and he does a great job leading our pitching staff, so he’s a key guy for this whole thing. There’s no way around that. We’re going to work with him to restore his presence in baseball as an All-Star, but he’s going to be front and center as our starting catcher.

“We were encouraged with the way Sammy [Basallo] caught in the majors, too, and there’s definitely room to have two really good catchers at the major league level. That’s a good problem to have. As I’ve talked about also, Sammy and Adley can DH, and Sammy can play first base. So there’s a lot of playing time to go around between those two guys, and I’m glad that we have both of them together.”

Kyle Bradish

“I would like a strong front half of the rotation guy to go with those if we can, and we’ll be on the hunt for pitching improvements in that area and others. I think Bradish’s innings is something that we’re going to have to keep an eye on, but I do think there’s a way and a possibility to keep him up and running full season in a responsible way next year. The platform that he’s provided in terms of how many innings he’s thrown and how those innings went this year were about as good as you would have hoped for coming off of the injury, so we feel like he’s in a great spot.”

Grayson Rodriguez, who had surgery to remove bone chips from his right elbow

“He is expected to be ready. He’s going to start throwing ramp up next month, in October and get some throwing in before the holidays and then prepare for the season after that as he would. So there’s nothing medically to suggest that he won’t be ready and he’s very determined and not happy about what happened last year.

“I think he’s kind of an underdog, under the radar mentality right now which is good and I think he’s due for some good luck on the injury front after last year. That said, we’re cognizant that he threw zero innings and finished 2024 hurt so we’re going to have to plan with those realities in mind. But I am bullish on the situation.”

Trevor Rogers

“First of all, really proud and admire what he did to build himself back up. He did a lot of work, but our strength and pitching and medical people did a lot to put him in that position. In a rough year, he’s been one of the better success stories around the organization. One of the bright things as we look forward to 2026 to have him on the trajectory he’s at right now.

“I think it’s hard for anyone to repeat an ERA in the 1’s, especially in this day and age, so I’m not saying we’re expecting or needing that. But I do think he has cemented himself as a front-of-the rotation kind of starter going into next year. Whether that’s the 1, 2 or 3 starter is going to depend on what we do and who we get. He’s going to be one of our top guys in the rotation and we’re very excited about that.”

Tyler Wells as a starter or reliever

“This has always been a conversation with Tyler for years, because he’s good at both, which is impressive. Not a lot of people can do that, and he also just hasn’t happened to had the innings load to get through a whole 170-to-180-[inning] season healthy as a starter, he hasn’t proven he can do it at the major league level.

“Whether that’s something he can control or not, I don’t really know, but it just hasn’t happened yet. So it’s always a little bit tempting to have the reliever conversation with him. But if you got a guy that can start and be good as a starter, that’s really valuable, and you always try to stick with that.

“That’s the plan with Tyler. I thought he looked really good. It was great to have him back, and he’s a big part of our team kind of spiritually, too, and that was wonderful getting him back. Whatever he’s doing next year, he’s going to be a big part of the pitching staff, but we’re planning on him as a rotation option over the course of this winter.”

Tyler O’Neill

“From what I see as an evaluator, the talent is there. I mean, the power, the swing, the way moves in the outfield, that player is in there. He wasn’t able to express the type of production that he’s done in his best years this year because he wasn’t available that much. That’s been part of his history, and we know that.

“I think he’s a tremendous roster fit for our group when he’s up and running and going good, and he’s a guy that can carry a lineup when he’s doing that. It’s really high impact, middle-of-the-order threat when he’s on a roll. Just talked to him extensively. He’s frustrated, too, and now that we’ve had him for a year, we’re talking with him and trying to plan out ways to do as best as we can to keep him in tip-top form for as much as possible next year, because I do think he can really raise the ceiling of this team, and I’m optimistic about it.”

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