Baltimore Orioles Break Bank In Pre-Arbitration Bonus Money

No team received more pre-arbitration bonus money for 2023 than the Baltimore Orioles.

Several young Baltimore Orioles cleaned up when pre-arbitration bonuses were announced on Monday.

Seven Orioles walked away with bonus money from the pre-arbitration pool, including four Orioles that made more than $1 million — catcher Adley Rutschman, third baseman Gunnar Henderson, pitcher Kyle Bradish and closer Félix Bautista.

The four collected big money in part because they picked up awards this postseason.

Rutschman and Bautista were named First-Team All-MLB, Bradish was named Second-Team All-MLB and finished fourth in Cy Young voting and Henderson was AL Rookie of the Year. Each received at least $500,000 due to those awards.

Rutschman ended up with $1.798 million, Bradish with $1.666 million, Bautista with $1.467 million and Henderson $1.428 million.

Rutschman, earned his first All-Star Game nod as he slashed .277/.374/.435/.809 with 31 doubles, a triple, 20 home runs and 80 RBI.

Bautista was named the Mariano Rivera Reliever of the Year with 33 saves in 61 innings of work. He will miss the 2024 season recovering from Tommy John surgery.

Bradish went 12-7 with a 2.83 ERA in his second full season in the Majors. He struck out nine hitters every nine innings.

Henderson slashed .255/.325/.489/.814 with 29 doubles, nine triples, 28 home runs and 82 RBI. He struck out 159 times and walked 56 times. He won his first Silver Slugger award.

Three other Orioles players qualified — Yennier Cano received $336,159, Grayson Rodriguez received $284,002 and Dean Kremer received $276,862.

Payments from a $50 million pool went to 101 players who didn’t have the service time for salary arbitration for 2022, which was two years, 228 days.

Players can receive bonus money for at least one award per season, with the rest of the money dispersed based on a WAR formula.

Those awards include $2.5 million for winning a MVP or Cy Young Award; $1.75 million for second in the voting; $1.5 million for third; $1 million for fourth, fifth or selection to the all-MLB first team; $750,000 for Rookie of the Year; and $500,000 for second in Rookie of the Year voting or all-MLB second team.