Baltimore Orioles Are 'Team To Watch' For 2024
From tanking to triumph, one baseball writer believes the Baltimore Orioles are one of his favorite baseball stories of 2023.
And, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal believes it is only going to get better in 2024 — and it starts with the young talent the Orioles have spent the past few years assembling.
“Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson, Anthony Santander, all of the guys they have and all of the players who are coming make them a team to watch not just in 2024 but in the years to come,” Rosenthal said on his show Fair Territory.
The Orioles are coming off a 101-win season that saw them win the AL East but lose in the AL Division Series to the Texas Rangers.
Still, it was a far cry from where the Orioles were several seasons ago.
The Orioles went into a nosedive in 2018, the result of the team’s desire to “tank” and get better through the draft and player acquisition. That season they went 47-115 and finished 61 games out of first place in the AL West.
In 2019 the Orioles hired Brandon Hyde as manager and improved little the next three seasons — 54-108 in 2019, 25-35 in 2020 and 52-110 in 2021.
But, he and general manager Mike Elias stuck with the plan. In 2022, the O’s improved to 83-79 before this year’s breakthrough.
“This team under Brandon Hyde and Mike Elias, they've done some great things now,” Rosenthal said.
Now, the Orioles have a talented young team that features Henderson, the AL Rookie of the Year; Rutschman, a Silver Slugger behind the plate; and pitcher Kyle Bradish, who was fourth in Cy Young voting.
Anthony Santander leads a group of outfielders that remain under team control but also stand in the way of two of the top outfield prospects in the game in Colton Cowser and Heston Kjerstad.
And, there is baseball’s No. 1 prospect, shortstop Jackson Holliday, waiting in the wings for next season.
The Orioles aren’t going anywhere, Rosenthal said.
“Great job by the Orioles,” Rosenthal said. “Good to see Baltimore alive again.”
