Shane Baz’s first season in Baltimore did not come with the kind of record that usually screams success. A 6-15 mark looks ugly on its face, and that alone can twist the whole story into something it wasn’t. The Orioles knew better than to judge it that simply.
Baz gave them the kind of stability they went out and paid heavily for. He finished 2026 with a 4.11 ERA and a 3.62 FIP, and he took the ball 31 times while piling up 180 innings.
That mattered, especially for a pitcher who had missed all of 2023 and most of 2024 after Tommy John surgery and then logged a 4.87 ERA over 166.1 innings in 2025. For Baz, 2026 was the first season in his career in which he had topped 80 innings, and then he jumped straight into a full starter’s workload.
Baltimore’s problem was not that Baz failed to deliver. It was that the team rarely did much for him once he did.
The Orioles gave him some of the worst run support in the majors last season, turning a lot of decent outings into empty nights. He kept his head up and said all the right things through it, but the lineup rarely returned the favor.
That’s what makes the trade and the extension such a big part of the story. Before the season, Mike Elias identified Baz as a pitcher he wanted in the 2026 rotation and swung a deal with the Rays, sending Slater de Brun, Caden Bodine, Michael Forret, Austin Overn, and a competitive balance pick to Tampa Bay.
Forret later found his way back to the organization, de Brun went to Tampa after first arriving in Baltimore via compensation for the Bryan Baker trade, Bodine climbed prospect rankings after a strong 2026 campaign, and Overn is now inside Tampa Bay’s Top 10 according to MLB Pipeline. The Orioles also sent Tyler Wells to the Rays to get Forret back, and the package included a first-round pick.
After giving up that much, Baltimore did what it was supposed to do and locked Baz in with a five-year, $68 million extension.
The numbers say he was battered, but the details tell a different story. Baz allowed 92 runs in 2026, yet only 82 of them were earned. He also found himself stuck in some strange moments, including the infamous “not out of the baseline” play, and he often had to pitch through messes created by Baltimore’s defense.
There was plenty for the Orioles to like beyond the raw run prevention. Elias described Baz as someone with Cy Young potential when the deal was made, while also making clear that the 27-year-old still needed time to reach that level. Baz’s 3.4 WAR trailed only Pete Alonso, Rogers, and Gunnar Henderson on the Orioles, and there’s reason to think there’s more in there.
Baltimore will now ask him to keep moving forward. Kyle Bradish already has a similar - though pricier - five-year extension, Trevor Rogers is heading to free agency, Brandon Young is coming off a surprising 2026, and the organization still has several promising young arms in the pipeline. But the plan is pretty clear: Bradish and Baz are the rotation anchors now.
Baz also appears set up for a cleaner runway in 2027. He took a comebacker off his elbow in a mid-September start against the Mets and seemed to avoid anything major, but the Orioles shut him down for the final two weeks once the postseason was out of reach. After handling a full workload this season, he should go into next year without an innings limit hanging over him.
The ugly record is the easy part to remember. The better read is that Baz gave Baltimore almost everything it could reasonably ask for, and the lack of support around him made the season look worse than it really was.
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Orioles Defense Problem Just Got Harder To Ignore This Offseason
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For an organization that has spent the offseason weighing what comes next, that matters. Any push to tighten things up will run through the people making the biggest calls, with president of baseball operations Mike Elias and manager Craig Albernaz positioned as the key decision-makers on whether Baltimores defensive problems get addressed through roster changes, coaching emphasis or both. [Read more 🡒]