Sarasota, Florida – The last time Félix Bautista, the most dominant intimidating relief in baseball, pulled a competition field, an amazed silence dragged in its wake.
The date was August 25, 2023 and Bautista was only a strike from his 49th stop for the season. His Baltimore Orioles, the most invigorating MLB, were a race for the ninth round. Bautista, a dynamo of 8 -footed fire balls 8 inch, rightly known as “The Mountain”, was in the Homestretch of a sensational rescue season. In 61 rounds, the Dominican on a large shoulder had struck 110 strikers with a microscopic MPM of 1.48.
And just before everything goes wrong, it could not have been more perfect. It was a Friday evening at the end of the summer and Camden Yards burst with a first probable trip to the playoff series in seven seasons only five weeks old. Bautista had authorized the races in only two of his last 21 outings. The excitement filled all corners and corners of the Ballyard interior port while the voracious crowd roared its beloved entirely closer.
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But while Bautista wrapped a 102 mph radiator, he clumsily plummeted the first base side of the mound. A look of discomfort instantly crossed his scintillaged face. He removed his cap and grimacted. Sports coaches, performers and coaches were flooded towards the mound. A few moments later, the closer flame was closer to the mound.
In the seats, Joy instantly gave way to worry; 28,872 souls held hearts in the throat, went to give Cobra and looked at the incredulous vacuum. The broadcasting camera has turned to director general Mike Elias – who watches most of the homes at the stands – lost in a state of stoic contemplation. The O would win the ball game, but will lose war.
A few days later, everyone’s worst fears were carried out: Bautista underwent an injury to the UCL, which would ultimately need reconstructive surgery. Baltimore and his closest tried in vain to rehabilitate the problem in the hope that a miracle would make Bautista available for the playoffs.
On Monday, 556 days since Bautista dropped his huge frame off the Camden Yards mound, the mountain reappeared. During a spring outing of a round against the Boston Red Sox, Bautista made his long -awaited return to the mound. He launched 13 throws, withdrew two two and hit 97 miles per hour. More importantly, he moved away from the field with a smile the size of a mountain. The Receiver Adley Rutschman met him at the base line to offer a hug of congratulations as a crowd of O appreciation fans of O have a standing ovation.
It was far from the silence shocked in Camden Yards on the day of his elbow.
“(Going back to the mound) was something I thought of every day, and it was something that made me pass throughout my rehabilitation process.” Bautista joyfully told journalists an interpreter after her release.
“I missed my fans. I failed to hear them whenever I got on the ground, so it was very rewarding to be able to go there today and hear them again.
Bautista will continue to fall back in the last three weeks of training in the spring. Manager Brandon Hyde said he was planning to be prudent with his closest to his SUV size; Bautista does not go on the consecutive days or will not work more than a round to start the season. But seeing Bautista again in white and orange was an excellent reminder that, in good health, it is one of the most impactful and revolutionary launchers on the planet.
“When you put a ball back to your closer and it is the guy who launches 101 with a 92 -thousand separator per hour, you feel good in your chances,” joked Hyde.
Félix Bautista and the interpreter Brandon Quinones after the first outing of Bautista: “This is something I thought about every day, and it is something that made me pass throughout my rehabilitation process.” pic.twitter.com/9wlbzuhuos
– Andy Kostka (@Afkostka) March 3, 2025
But many things have changed in Birdland since the last release of Bautista.
The franchise has a new owner, David Rubenstein, who financed a significant increase in pay during the winter. The O played and lost, five games in the playoffs. Bautista was injured for everyone. None of the three other O launchers appears in the game that Bautista blew his elbow is still in the organization. Titching staff, in particular, experienced a ton of turnover.
More importantly, Baltimore expectations have changed.
The O are no longer a spicy ones. Their ascent of the doormat at the competitor is essentially over. A Massive wave of young strikers Like Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson, Colton Cowser, Jordan Westburg and Jackson Holliday made their debut in great degrees of success. Simply reaching the playoffs is no longer a sufficient result. Aspirations are higher than that. The time in Baltimore is now.
Obtaining Rutschman on the right – The double recipient of the stars was horrible in the second half of 2024 – is priority n ° 1 for birds. The franchise net looked worn in October and he powerfully fought the dish every time it started behind the plate. The fact that Rutschman served as a designated Baltimore striker in match 1 of his loss of the wild round against Kansas City was, in itself, the story and the problem.
Many talent assessors around the game have raised the eyebrows about the off -season of Baltimore, a winter in which the payroll came up from $ 103 million to $ 161 million despite the departure of Ace Corbin Burnes and the Slugger of the Anthony Santander stars. Investment is never a bad thing, but how the O have invested a subject of doubt. Rather than paying a single high-end free agent, Baltimore has signed several less obviously impactful pieces such as the Big-Swing, Wounded, Tyler O’Neill, 35, Tomoyuki Sugano, a 41-year-old veteran.
Finding a way to fill in the production of Burnes and Santander will be a massive scenario of the Baltimore season. The return of Bautista and its heat of 100 MPH should certainly help.
There was no elaborate bright show, whistled with “The Wire” or music with a heart for the entrance to Bautista on Monday. Instead, the closest entered a series of messages on the small outside field at the Ed Smith stadium which included a happy birthday for someone named Ann Barnes and the wishes of retirement for a Mike Hobmann. Things will be a bit different when Bautista escapes from Camden Yards pen for the first time this season, but his first outing was unequivocal a very optimistic day in Birdland.
Other notes with the camp of o
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Baltimore has the reputation of being one of the best organizations to develop strikers, but the voices around the game say that the O also make massive progress on the pitching side. All the affiliates of the club’s minor leagues finished the first three in their respective leagues last year with the pace of withdrawal. The number of these talented arms is developing in starters, but the evaluators are raised on the G group who should spend this season to come in Double-A.
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Tomoyuki Sugano Launched two rounds on Monday against Boston. The 35 -year -old man, who signed with Baltimore for a one -year contract for $ 13 million this winter, will launch the Bigs for the first time in his career. Sugano won the MVP Prize last season in the Japan Central League, but there are questions about how his business will translate. Its fast ball sat in the 92-93 MPH range on Monday, below the MLB average last year. Its two main secondary are a shortcoming cut in the beach of 86-87 MPH and a change around 84 MPH. Sugano is a massively popular figure in Japan, but on the basis of the first impressions, he looks more like a sleeve eating Backend starter than a front line.
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Gunnar Henderson was removed from a grapefruit league match last week with “a lower right discomfort”, but it should not go out long. Director Brandon Hyde Said that the OU stopping the O superstar already feels better. There is no reason to expect Henderson, who finished fourth last year at the vote of the MVP of Al, was not ready for the opening day.
