Colton Cowser, Tony Kemp and Keegan Akin are in. Jackson Holliday, Coby Mayo and Kyle Stowers are not.
The Orioles finalized their 2024 opening day roster Thursday, announcing a contingent of 13 pitchers and 13 position players they will bring into their first series with the Los Angeles Angels. After carrying a deep crop of players into the final week of camp, the club made a flurry of final cuts this weekend, including those of top prospects Holliday and Mayo.
Cowser, a consensus top-60 prospect in his own right, and Kemp, a 32-year-old second baseman and outfielder who signed with the club Tuesday, earned the final bench spots. Akin and left-hander Nick Vespi cracked the bullpen with Jacob Webb starting the season on the paternity list.
Here’s the Orioles’ full 26-man roster:
Outfielders (4): OF Colton Cowser, OF Cedric Mullins, OF Austin Hays, OF/1B Anthony Santander
Infielders (7): SS/3B Gunnar Henderson, INF/OF Jorge Mateo, 1B Ryan Mountcastle, 2B/OF Tony Kemp, 1B/OF Ryan O’Hearn, INF Ramón Urías, 2B/3B Jordan Westburg
Catchers (2): C James McCann, C Adley Rutschman
Rotation (5): RHP Corbin Burnes, LHP Cole Irvin, RHP Dean Kremer, RHP Grayson Rodriguez, RHP Tyler Wells
Bullpen (8): LHP Keegan Akin, RHP Mike Baumann, RHP Yennier Cano, LHP Danny Coulombe, RHP Craig Kimbrel, LHP Cionel Pérez, RHP Dillon Tate, LHP Nick Vespi
Paternity list (1): RHP Jacob Webb
15-day injured list (2): RHP Kyle Bradish (UCL strain), LHP John Means (elbow discomfort)
60-day injured list (1): RHP Félix Bautista (UCL tear)
Cowser was one of the Orioles’ spring training standouts, posting a .304/.418/.717 slash line and six home runs in 18 Grapefruit League games. He beat out a deep outfield group that included fellow top prospect Heston Kjerstad and the 26-year-old Stowers, who led the team with seven homers this spring. The decisions to roster Cowser and sign Kemp forced the Orioles to designate outfielder Ryan McKenna, infielder Nick Maton and infielder Tyler Nevin for assignment and grant the release of second baseman Kolten Wong after he opted out.
Strong camp performances from Stowers (1.011 OPS), Holliday (.954), Mayo (1.008) and second baseman Connor Norby (.827) might have been enough for them to make the opening day rosters of most clubs, but the Orioles’ position player logjam forced the front office to send them all down to Triple-A Norfolk to begin the season. Though service time might have played a factor in at least one of those moves, the Orioles’ roster is deep enough to ensure that they have talented options should injuries arise.
Executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias opted to begin the year with an eight-man bullpen rather than carry an extra position player. With several reliever spots up for grabs, Akin and Webb earned the right to break camp with the team at the expense of Julio Teheran, who was granted his release after opting out of his minor league deal, as well as Jonathan Heasley, Bryan Baker and Nick Vespi, among others. Akin now has the chance to put his disastrous 2023 campaign behind him while Webb, who was out of options, sticks around after impressing as a midseason acquisition last year.
Wells and Irvin entered camp as the favorites to win the rotation spots of the injured Bradish and Means, building up as starters from the beginning of camp and never appearing to be in much danger of losing their spots. Burnes, the club’s opening day starting pitcher, Rodriguez and Kremer make up the rest of the rotation. Elias said in a news conference Friday that the Orioles hope both Bradish and Means can return “early in the first half of the season.”
Baltimore Sun reporter Jacob Calvin Meyer contributed to this article.
