The Orioles’ outfield problem is no longer a side issue. It’s the thing that has to get fixed if this team expects any real progress in 2027, and the mess is big enough that Baltimore may need to rethink the whole group from scratch.
That’s the conclusion after another rough season in left, center and right, and longtime MLB executive Jim Duquette said the same thing when the roster was broken down on “The Daily Flock Show.”
“The outfield is a concern for sure,” Duquette told me.
Baltimore entered 2026 with one of the worst-fielding and weakest-hitting outfields in baseball again, and the organization’s internal options have not come close to solving it. Every notable outfielder in the system took a step backward this year because of injuries, poor production or both.
The outside addition, Taylor Ward, did not deliver. And after eight years of a rebuild built heavily around college outfield bats, the Orioles are still leaning on newly acquired AAAA-type Christian Franklin more than any of them.
Duquette said the rebuild of the outfield has to start with a new everyday center fielder and at least one new corner outfielder. He also raised the possibility that the answer might come from inside the infield.
Could Jackson Holliday and Blaze Alexander move to the outfield? Possibly, depending on what Baltimore does with Gunnar Henderson. If Henderson is not quickly dealt this offseason, the source material says he needs to move to third base.
Duquette and longtime MLB GM Dan O’Dowd, another former Orioles executive, both believe Holliday could handle center with the right work.
Duquette was adamant that Holliday is “athletic enough” to do it and could be better in space.
The current center-field pairing is part of the issue. Colton Cowser, a former top-five pick, and low-level free agent Leody Taveras have both been used there this season, but Duquette said Baltimore should move on from Cowser as an everyday option.
“That ship has passed … he’s an extra outfielder,’ Duquette said. Taveras is duplication.
You don't need you don't need both of those guys. If you want to keep one, then then keep one and, you know, let the other one go.”
If it were his call, Duquette said Taveras would get the nod. He pointed to the fact that Taveras is a switch hitter, a better base stealer and more useful in bunt situations.
Cowser’s numbers this season only reinforce the concern. He has a .486 OPS in 72 night games, with 64 strikeouts and 6 RBIs.
Then there’s Tyler O’Neill, the $19 million signing who broke down again and will miss the rest of the season with a shoulder injury. Duquette backed the idea that Baltimore should have moved on from that salary at the deadline, and the source material notes that the contract was a bad one from the start because of the injury history.
“We were first-guessing on that because of the injury history,” he noted.
The problem is that the free-agent market does not offer much relief. The class is thin, especially when it comes to outfielders, and Randy Arozarena is not a fit here because of the volatility in his production. That means Baltimore may need to get creative, including the possibility of bringing back an MLB-ready outfielder as part of a Henderson deal.
There is also the matter of roster balance. The Orioles need a better mix of right-handed and left-handed bats, and Camden Yards remains part of the conversation. The source material says the park has become a problem for right-handed hitters and has helped turn it into a difficult place for former slugging right-handed left fielders like Austin Hays and Ryan Mountcastle, who was in the outfield at the time, and now Ward.
Duquette said the ballpark has to be factored into any plan.
“It could be - go out and get some outfielders,” Duquette said. “That's okay, too.
But what’s made it a little confusing even with a guy like Ward - he wasn't good defensively and, you know, ended up not having anywhere near the season that he should have. I think there is some ballpark, stadium-type issues that you have to be concerned about, too.
“I mean, that guy was a legit power hitter and he comes to Camden Yards and he's afraid to the pull side because that, you know, it's like Death Valley out there.”
However Baltimore chooses to attack it, the message is the same: the Orioles cannot go into 2027 expecting this outfield to sort itself out.
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