Orioles rotation talk turns to leadership and late decisions as camp nears its end

SARASOTA — The morning air around Ed Smith Stadium had the feel of a countdown, the kind where conversations shorten and routines tighten. With the Orioles nearing the moment they break camp, the focus has narrowed to a few practical questions that still don’t have public answers: who starts when, how many starters are needed, and what order tells the truest story about readiness.

What do the Orioles’ recent pitching appearances actually signal?

Chris Bassitt made a start in Lakeland in what was described as his penultimate appearance in games that don’t count, a reminder that the calendar is now doing what it always does in late camp—forcing clarity. The Orioles are set to break camp Saturday evening and then play a home-and-home series against the Nationals before a workout day at Camden Yards that precedes the opener.

The only confirmed starter assignment stated so far is Trevor Rogers for March 26 against the Twins. Kyle Bradish is expected to take the ball on the 28th. Beyond that, the order remains unsettled publicly, and the daily pitching schedule can tempt observers into reading tea leaves. Yet the message inside camp has been caution about over-interpreting individual assignments.

Shane Baz joined Bradish in a simulated game at Ed Smith Stadium. Dean Kremer is slated to start Thursday’s split-squad game in Tampa, with Rogers starting the nightcap against the Pirates in Sarasota. As for Albert Suárez, his start in Dunedin was framed as something not to overread: he is trying to make the club in a relief role and had not appeared in a Grapefruit League game since allowing seven runs and nine hits in 2 2/3 innings against the Cardinals on March 6.

Is the rotation set, and will it be five or six?

There is still open space where certainty usually sits by this stage. The club will “eventually know” whether the rotation is five-man or six-man, whether Zach Eflin is in it, and how everyone lines up after Rogers and Bradish.

The uncertainty is not being dressed up as drama, but it is real enough to shape the way pitchers and coaches speak. Interim manager Tony Mansolino’s phrasing to describe pending decisions has been echoed in camp as a way to keep expectations level while the staff evaluates: “everything is on the table. ” The expression is simple, almost procedural, but it also captures the emotional truth of late camp—players are close enough to the roster to taste it, yet not close enough to hold it.

In the clubhouse, that gap between preparation and public confirmation is where the mental work lives. It is also where the Orioles must weigh roles that don’t show up neatly in a box score: how pitchers recover, how they work between outings, and how they fit together when the games begin to count.

How are the Orioles describing their pitching identity and leadership?

Within camp, a perception has taken hold that the rotation is “underrated and overlooked. ” Rogers said it earlier in camp, and the sentiment has circulated. Eflin, given a chance to respond, leaned into confidence and internal competition without framing it as personal rivalry.

“Yeah, I think so, ” Eflin said. “I think we have all the confidence in every guy we have. We’re all competitors, we’re all trying to one up each other, which is what you want in a starting staff. But we’re just focused on going out there and doing our job and winning games, so wherever that takes us is where it’ll take us. ”

Mansolino, asked to weigh in, aligned himself with the players’ confidence and described what he sees daily when the doors are closed to outside noise. “I agree with anything the boys say when it comes to that. Yes, yes, ” he said. “Whatever the outside noise is, it is, but I just know how good these guys are, being around them and being up close with them, and I’ll take all of our guys on our team and be in a foxhole, so to speak. ”

His description turned quickly from individual talent to something more intimate: the way pitchers operate as their own unit inside a larger roster. “The coolest part is how they kind of like gel together, right? Like, the pitching group is kind of like their own little subset of a team, ” Mansolino said, adding that the group has “rallied with each other” and is “really pulling for each other and trying to get themselves better. ”

That’s where Bassitt’s name keeps returning—not just as an arm in the schedule, but as a presence in a room where routines get shared and standards get enforced. The Orioles are balancing readiness with alignment, and leadership with performance, in the final stretch before decisions harden into a season’s first month.

What is being done before camp breaks?

The approach, as described inside camp, is evaluation through work: Grapefruit League appearances, simulated games, split-squad assignments, and controlled situations that reveal preparation. Mansolino has spoken about how the staff was composed when he took the managing job in late October and how moves were made to deepen it, signaling that the club sees pitching depth as something built intentionally.

He also emphasized what he values when games don’t count: the consistency of preparation and the detail of execution. On Bradish, Mansolino pointed to both physical signs and habits.

“I love our guys. Every single one of them, ” he said. “And in Bradish’s case, the stuff is real. It’s great to see the velocity where it is, too. Then also, he’s been as consistent as they come as far as his prep, his work and how he attacks the games. ”

He singled out how Bradish handled the simulated setting, noting that an outing like that can invite looseness, but he did not see it. “It was really impressive, ” Mansolino said, describing the group as “very detailed” and focused on honing craft even when the setting allows for less intensity.

Bradish did not get the Opening Day nod, though he has pitched like an ace in the past, including a fourth-place finish in Cy Young voting in 2023.

What happens next as the team leaves Sarasota?

By the time the buses pull away and the work shifts toward the final lead-up, the questions will narrow further: not whether the pitchers are ready to compete, but how the Orioles choose to deploy them first. In a camp where “everything is on the table, ” the last days can feel like waiting for the final stamp on paperwork everyone has been rehearsing for weeks.

Back near the mounds at Ed Smith Stadium, the scene still looks ordinary—catchers’ mitts popping, pitchers moving through their sequences, coaches watching with the calm of repetition. But the meaning has changed. The Orioles are no longer building a staff in theory; they are arranging a staff in time, with roles that will hold up under real innings. And as the rotation order comes into view, the larger test remains the same: whether the confidence and cohesion described in Sarasota travels with them when the games start to count.