Starting pitcher Zach Eflin came to the Orioles from the Tampa Bay Rays in July 2024. The 32-year-old right-hander went 5-2 with a 2.60 ERA in nine starts. In 2025, when his season ended early because of back surgery, he was 6-5 with a 5.93 ERA in 14 games. In December, Eflin re-signed with the Orioles for $10 million and a $25 million mutual option for 2027.
Although he was returning from back surgery, the Orioles thought he was fit enough to start the season, and sent Dean Kremer to Norolk. In Eflin’s first start, he came out after 3 2/3 innings. He needed Tommy John surgery, ending his year. He’s spent lots of time around the Orioles since the surgery, where he’s at home games. He took the first road trip after the All-Star break to Houston and Baltimore.
This interview, which was conducted just before the All-Star break, was edited for clarity.
Question: What’s the latest in your rehabilitation?
Zach Eflin: “Everything’s great, honestly. I feel amazing. I think the most frustrating part is how good I feel and how [much] longer I have. It’s kind of like fighting that competitiveness in your head. I feel like I could go out and throw a baseball today and be fine, but it’s not the protocol anymore, but hanging in there, you know?
Q: What are you able to do?
Eflin: “It’s similar to an in-season schedule right now. I’m doing a lot better. I can actually lift weights with my arm. A lot of arm care pretty much every day and then it’s like lower body, then core condition, lower body/core condition and just repeat that, and when the team goes on the road, I’ve been doing an outpatient rehab, so I get all my stuff done out there.
“We switch up the exercises but pretty much the same kind of structure throughout the whole thing.”
Q: How hard is it being in the dugout watching games?
Eflin: “It sucks. I kind of did it last year with my back. I’d let you guys know much it sucks. The only thing I want to be doing is being out on the field with the guys competing and I can’t do that right now, so I have to find other avenues to compete.
“I just have to understand what my role is. I’m here to serve people. I’m here to do everything I can to be a good teammate and keep the boys going, occupying my day with trying to make people feel 10 feet tall.”
Q: There are few plusses here, but one of them is that you’re getting to spend more time with your family. How important is that?
Eflin: “It’s very special. I thought I got what I needed last year with the back surgery, being home with the kids, and I guess God was like, ‘No, you need a little bit more time with them this year.’ That’s really been the only thing. These guys here and my family at home are the only people keeping me going right now. To be a part of the milestones that I normally miss on the road with my kids, it’s very special. I got to be with my son when he first walked, when he first talked, which wasn’t the case with the other three. So to be there for him, be there for the girls, the twins. The oldest is 4, and we have four of them. We need bodies in the house to prevent injuries, do all that stuff.
“It’s been a lot of fun, just being with the kids and them expecting me home every day, which has been different than in the past, and it’s been very special.
Q: Last year, you were asked if you wanted to be back after the back surgery, and you said you did. Is that still the case now? Would you like to be back after you rehab from the Tommy John surgery?
Eflin: “Absolutely. Absolutely. I don’t know anybody in here that doesn’t love it here, doesn’t want to be here for a long time, and my position was traded for and I was brought over here and I got hurt and then I got hurt again and then I got hurt this year.
“So as much as I want to be here, it’s up to the guys that make those decisions. I can say all I want that I want to be here and I never want to leave these guys, but at the end of the day, it’s a business, but with that being said, there’s no other place I’d rather be than here.”
Q: Has working with the coaches and pitchers prepared you for a future in coaching, maybe 10 years from now?
Eflin: “It would be something to think about. I think when I’m done playing, I don’t want to travel. I want to be home with my family. It’s hard to even think about it.”
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