556 days—this is how long Baltimore Orioles fans have been waiting for King Felix to be back on the mound. And now after nearly a year of waiting, rehabbing, and praying, Felix Bautista is here. Back in August 2023, he had been sidelined due to a tear in his UCL, leading to a Tommy John surgery. No one saw that googly coming. Losing their mountain left a gaping hole in the Baltimore bullpen.
Because whenever Bautista pitched, the Baltimore Orioles rode high. Last time, for example, he struck out 110 batters in 61 innings with a 1.48 ERA. Yeah! That good! So it gave the Orioles a blanket of invincibility. Because with him, hitters knew their chances were slim.
But in 2024, with him in the bylanes, the edge of the team was gone.
But not any longer. Because Bautista is back with a BANG! In fact, his performance was so good in spring training that veteran Eduardo Perez mentioned that “he should have slept last night like a baby.”
And he isn’t wrong; it did feel like it was 2023 all over again.
Bautista’s fastball playing against the Boston Red Sox was stellar, and while it didn’t touch 100mph, it hovered between 96 and 97. And he struck out Trayce Thompson and Nate Eaton. Perez in Baseball Tonight by Buster Olney was all praises for this comeback. “He looked comfortable in the mound; he looked in great shape. But to be able to dominate the fastball and then dominate the splitter—that’s been his pitch. He has so much reach because of his height. Hitters looked just as goofy and silly as we saw two years ago off that pitch.”
And Felix Bautista’s return is not just about Baltimore Orioles getting their best closer in; it’s also about restoring their order. Without him, the team’s bullpen ERA shot up from 3.55 in 2023, which was fifth best in MLB, to 4.22 in 2024. They literally ranked in the bottom 10. Craig Kimbrel was brought in as a stopgap, but he struggled and was DFA’d. And then the Baltimore Orioles picked up Seranthony Dominguez, but he couldn’t fill in those shoes too. So the result was a 14-18 record in one-run games. Which is brutal because they were 30-16 the very year before.
So, Bautista’s return means a huge deal.
What the return of Bautista means for the Baltimore Orioles
Bautista’s return changes everything for the Baltimore Orioles. His incoming means Yennier Cano can move back to the setup role, where he was thriving in 2023. He posted a 2.35 ERA in the eighth inning. But without Bautista, Cano had to shoulder much of the responsibility across innings, and his ERA jumped 3.15. Now that balance can come, and he can be in his best form.
Not just him but even Brandon Hyde will get flexibility. The team won’t have to worry about stretching the starters far or burning off the relievers at the start of the games itself. Plus, in the off-season, they have added Andrew Kittredge. And he will be with Cano, Dominguez, and Gregory Soto, which suddenly makes the Baltimore Orioles bullpen deep enough. Hyde can be aggressive too since Bautista is there to slam the door shut.
But even beyond all the stats and everything, Bautista’s return gives the Baltimore Orioles something they missed in the 2024 season—confidence. When they have a dependable closer, the dynamics change. And if there is confidence, anything can happen, and the opposing team will know they have a mountain to climb. Quite literally!
Now they have World Series aspirations, and why not when they have Bautista on the mound! Don’t you think?
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