Struggling Orioles Starting Rotation Is Missing Their Ace From Last Season

The Baltimore Orioles are off to a bad start and are missing their ace.

Nick Ziegler | Apr 10, 2025

Apr 1, 2025; Bronx, New York, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Corbin Burnes (39) pitches in the first inning against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium. / Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

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Baltimore Orioles

It has been a dreadful start to the season for the Baltimore Orioles and things don’t appear to be getting better any time soon.

The Orioles have had to deal with a barrage of injuries early on, and things are only getting worse.

Recently, it was announced that Zach Eflin will be joining Grayson Rodriguez on the injured list, leaving Baltimore without their top two starters.

Eflin was off to a strong start this year, but left his start early with shoulder fatigue and now will be missing time.

During the offseason, the biggest concern for the Orioles was their starting rotation. The team lost out on bringing back Corbin Burnes in free agency, and pivoted to signing Tomoyuki Sugano and Charlie Morton.

So far, Sugano has pitched well coming over from Japan, but Morton has struggled.

Even if the rotation was 100 percent healthy, this unit still could be lacking an ace, but with injuries on top of that, things are a mess for Baltimore right now.

Tim Kelly of Bleacher Report recently described the start to the season for the Orioles as ‘Burned’, highlighting the loss of their ace.

“A start like this from the rotation is concerning, to say the least. We now understand why they brought back veteran Kyle Gibson late in spring training.”

After winning the most games in the American League the last two years, it doesn’t appear like Baltimore is going to be that caliber of team early on.

The issues with the rotation are significant, and they are going to need some help soon in order to fix it.

Recent free agent signing Kyle Gibson will give them another serviceable veteran arm, but this is a team that missing their ace.

Burnes was excellent for the Orioles in 2024, totaling a 15-9 record and 2.92 ERA. It was a fantastic campaign for the former National League Cy Young award winner, and his presence is missed.

With an extremely talented lineup and a good bullpen, Baltimore has a lot of positive things still in place. However, their offense hasn’t been able to overpower teams yet to make up for their lackluster starting pitching so far.

If the Orioles are going to make a postseason run, they are going to need to get healthy and first see what the combination of Rodriguez and Eflin can do at the top of the rotation.

Both players have the upside to be very good, but more could still be needed.

With the year a couple of weeks in, Baltimore is certainly missing Burnes right about now.

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