{"id":116617,"date":"2026-03-25T19:58:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T23:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=116617"},"modified":"2026-03-25T19:58:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T23:58:07","slug":"orioles-pitcher-opening-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/03\/25\/orioles-pitcher-opening-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Orioles Lose Another Pitcher Before Opening Day"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The Baltimore Orioles announced <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/03\/04\/orioles-shuffle-bullpen-kittredge-wells\/\" target=\"_self\">another pitcher<\/a> would be on the injured reserve to start the season, one day before their first game.<\/p>\n<h2>Orioles Lose Another Pitcher Before Opening Day<\/h2>\n<p>Reliever Keegan Akin suffered an injury to his groin during spring training, sidelining him for at least the next 15 days, the team <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/news\/keegan-akin-injured-list-left-groin-strain\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">announced<\/a> Wednesday. The injury marks the <a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/JakeDRill\/status\/2036844525814005823\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">fourth pitcher<\/a> to be sidelined for the team before opening day.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Your 2026 Opening Day roster!<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udfe0 Jeremiah Jackson is in<br \/>\n\ud83d\udfe0 Anthony Nunez and Yaramil Hiraldo in the bullpen<br \/>\n\ud83d\udfe0 No IL for Beavers<br \/>\n\ud83d\udfe0 Albert Suarez and Jackson Kowar don&#8217;t make the Opening Day roster<a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Birdland?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Birdland<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/lTQHY4vVne\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/lTQHY4vVne<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 SleeperOrioles (@SleeperOrioles) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SleeperOrioles\/status\/2036845910869893427?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 25, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p>&nbsp;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Junior manager Craig Albernaz did not <a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/afkostka\/status\/2036867110186488231\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">provide<\/a> a timeline to reporters for Akin or outfielder Heston Kjerstad. The move is retroactive to March 22.<\/p>\n<h3>Akin&#8217;s Injury Another Blow To A Thin Orioles Bullpen<\/h3>\n<p>The 30-year-old reliever is coming off another effective season, tossing a 3.41 ERA over 63.1 innings with 59 strikeouts. He did suffer from a high home-run-to-walk ratio in 2025, surrendering 10 home runs and tossing two wild pitches. The setup man recorded five wins and eight saves, most of them coming after Felix Bautista&#8217;s season-ending injury in August.<\/p>\n<p>Akin holds a three-pitch arsenal, including a slider and changeup that saw over 20% usage on each. While his four-seamer was ineffective and held a .323 batting average, his changeup accounted for a third of all strikeouts and only held a .103 batting average.<\/p>\n<p>The left-handed reliever saw a 12% walk rate alongside a low 38% groundball ratio in 2025. He also got battered around, with 42% of balls in play being listed as hard-hit. Akin was seeking to recapture his 2024 magic when he struck out 97 in 78.2 innings.<\/p>\n<p>Per <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.fangraphs.com\/roster-resource\/depth-charts\/orioles\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fangraphs<\/a>, four pitchers on the team are now on the injured list, including long reliever Andrew Kittredge. The Orioles also lost Jackson Holliday and Jordan Westburg for their offensive lineup.<\/p>\n<h3>Spring Training Contenders Get Unexpected Promotions<\/h3>\n<p>Because of the injury to Akin, the team turned to Anthony Nunez for his first opening day roster. The 24-year-old rookie joins Grant Wolfram and Yaramil Hiraldo on the roster for their Thursday night game.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Your 2026 Opening Day roster!<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udfe0 Jeremiah Jackson is in<br \/>\n\ud83d\udfe0 Anthony Nunez and Yaramil Hiraldo in the bullpen<br \/>\n\ud83d\udfe0 No IL for Beavers<br \/>\n\ud83d\udfe0 Albert Suarez and Jackson Kowar don&#8217;t make the Opening Day roster<a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Birdland?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Birdland<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/lTQHY4vVne\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/lTQHY4vVne<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 SleeperOrioles (@SleeperOrioles) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SleeperOrioles\/status\/2036845910869893427?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 25, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\"><p>&nbsp;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Nunez found himself with the Orioles in a <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseballamerica.com\/stories\/orioles-acquire-prospects-raimon-gomez-anthony-nunez-chandler-marsh-from-mets-for-cedric-mullins\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">trade<\/a> with the New York Mets last season that saw Cedric Mullins shipped away. The right-handed reliever performed well at Triple-A, tossing a 3.45 ERA with 21 strikeouts over 15.2 innings. He did struggle with command, hitting two batters after throwing five wild pitches for the Mets in Double-A.<\/p>\n<p>Wolfram appeared for the team in 2025, earning a 5.40 ERA with 31 strikeouts over 26.2 innings. He had a <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/w\/wolfrgr01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">successful<\/a> spring, striking out 10 and walking only one in six innings of work. Hiraldo also had a successful <a href=\"http:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/03\/24\/orioles-who-deserve-to-be-on-the-opening-day-roster\/\" target=\"_self\">spring<\/a> and holds a 38% chase rate from 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credits: William Purnell-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Baltimore Orioles announced another pitcher would be on the injured reserve to start the season, one day before their first game. Orioles Lose Another Pitcher Before Opening Day Reliever Keegan Akin suffered an injury to his groin during spring training, sidelining him for at least the next 15 days, the team announced Wednesday. The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5304,"featured_media":109147,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1071],"tags":[5662,4682],"class_list":["post-116617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-orioles","category-mlb","tag-felix-bautista","tag-keegan-akin"],"modified_by":"Evan Mazza, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5304"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116617"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116617\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":116640,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116617\/revisions\/116640"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}