The Baltimore Orioles are counting on the return of closer Felix Bautista, a 2023 All-Star who missed all of last season rehabbing an elbow injury – just not at the start of spring. General manager Mike Elias updated reporters Thursday in the Orioles’ spring training camp on the status of several players. Among them was Bautista, who went 8-2 with a 1.48 ERA and 33 saves in 2023, making his first American League All-Star team as the Baltimore closer
“Felix is doing great, medically,” Elias said. “He’s throwing bullpens, he’s moving well right now. We are in the process of building him up for the 2025 season. We’re going to take it slow. We’re going to see him in Grapefruit League but it might be a little bit later. “We’re expecting him back for the early part of the (regular) season but in terms of Grapefruit League action it might be a little bit on the slower side.” The Orioles will take whatever they can get this year from Bautista, whose 99.5-mph average fastball velocity ranks among the game’s elite. Between that and an 89-mph splitter that acts as an offspeed pitch, Bautista wasted little time establishing himself as one of the game’s elite relief pitchers in 2022 and 2023.
In 2023, Bautista was named to the American League All-Star team for the first time.
However, the wear and tear caught up with Bautista in the form of a UCL injury in Sept. 2023. He had Tommy John surgery at the end of the month, depriving the Orioles of their closer for their first postseason run after a protracted rebuild.
