Baltimore Orioles Young Ace Seen as Breakout Candidate in 2024

Baltimore Orioles' young ace could be a breakout candidate in 2024 if he continues what he did last season.

The Baltimore Orioles are looking for starting pitching this offseason. However, they have a star of their own in youngster Grayson Rodriguez. The 24-year-old was dominant in the second half of 2023 and showed all the tools that scouts had for him entering the show.

With some of his early struggles, concerns were raised for Baltimore. He didn't have his best stuff early on and while that's not uncommon, Rodriguez was expected to pitch better than he did right away.

The last few months of the season for Rodriguez showed everything and more, earning him a position on MLB.com's strong finishers of 2023. Thomas Harrigan notes that there's reason to believe he can have a strong 2024.

"MLB Pipeline’s No. 7 overall prospect entering 2023, Rodriguez came to the Majors amid considerable hype. However, he didn’t find immediate success with the Orioles, posting a 7.35 ERA and a 5.90 FIP over his first 10 starts, which earned the hard-throwing righty a ticket back to Triple-A in May," writes Harrigan. 

"The move seemed to work wonders for Rodriguez, who returned to MLB in July with a renewed vigor. Although the 24-year-old was hit hard by the Rangers in his lone playoff start, his performance over his final 11 outings (2.18 ERA, 2.80 FIP) in the regular season offers hope that he’s on the verge of a major breakout in 2024."

If the future Orioles ace comes back even better than he was in 2023, opposing teams should be worried. The ending of 2023 was just the start of what's to come for the former 11th overall pick.

Grayson could just be the piece the franchise relies on if they intend to win 100 games again next season and take another shot at the American League East crown.