The Baltimore Orioles are expecting closer Felix Bautista, a 2023 All-Star who missed the entire season last year mending an elbow injury, to return soon, but not at the start of spring training. On Thursday at the Orioles’ spring training camp, general manager Mike Elias provided an update to reporters on the status of numerous players. Among them was Bautista, who went 8-2 with a 1.48 ERA and 33 saves in 2023, earning his first American League All-Star selection as the Baltimore closer.
“Felix is doing well medically,” Elias remarked. “He’s throwing bullpens and is moving nicely right now. We are preparing him for the 2025 season. We’re going to take it slowly. We’ll see him in Grapefruit League, but it may be a little later.”We expect him back for the early part of the regular season, although Grapefruit League action may be a little slower.”
The Orioles will take anything Bautista has to offer this season, as his average fastball velocity of 99.5 mph is among the best in the game. With that plus an 89-mph splitter that serves as an offspeed pitch, Bautista quickly established himself as one of the game’s top bullpen pitchers in 2022 and 2023. Bautista earned his first American League All-Star selection in 2023.
However, wear and stress eventually caught up with Bautista, resulting in a UCL injury in September 2023. He underwent Tommy John surgery at the end of the month, depriving the Orioles of their closer for their first postseason appearance following a lengthy reconstruction. Bautista had another treatment on his right elbow in February 2024 – a debridement and an ulnar nerve transposition – but this did not appear to delay his return to the mound.
Following their 101-win season in 2023, the Orioles finished 91-71 in 2024, good for second place in the American League East. Craig Kimbrel started the season as the team’s closer, but he went 23-for-29 in save opportunities and was fired in September.
Seranthony Dominguez, a veteran right-hander, concluded the season as the Orioles primary closer. Baltimore lost its only postseason series, a best-of-three Wild Card round sweep to the Kansas City Royals.
