It’s been a busy few weeks for the Baltimore Orioles, a team that’ll look very different next season. However, the Orioles are poised to have one more familiar name back for 2026. Zach Eflin, who missed most of 2025 thanks to numerous IL stints, will reportedly re-sign with the O’s.

A Look at Eflin

The Orioles originally acquired pitcher Zach Eflin from the Rays in July 2024, as part of a deal that sent prospects Mac Horvath, Matthew Etzel, and Jackson Baumeister to Tampa Bay. At the time of the trade, Eflin was on a Rays team flush with organizational pitching depth. The O’s, meanwhile, acquired Eflin for two stretch runs.

That’s because Eflin had signed a three-year deal with the Rays, his hometown team, before the 2023 season.

Eflin pitched fine as an Oriole in 2024, as the veteran right-hander posted a sub-3.00 ERA in 55.1 IP for Baltimore in 2024. However, the 2025 campaign was none too kind to the 31-year-old pitcher.

Injuries heavily limited Eflin throughout the year, which wound up being a theme as the Orioles were without Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells for most of the year as those two recovered from previous surgeries. Now-Angels pitcher Grayson Rodriguez missed all of 2025 due to numerous injuries, as well.

For Eflin, he hit the injured list in early April with a lat strain. Then, in June, he was shut down with back discomfort. He was reactivated just before the 2025 trade deadline but back discomfort forced him back on the injured list in late July. He needed a lumbar microdiscectomy and missed the rest of the year.

When he was on the mound, Eflin wasn’t as impressive. The right-hander had an ERA of 5.93. He struck out 50 over 71.1 IP. What was more alarming, though, was that Eflin gave up 18 home runs over those innings pitched. It was a stark jump up from 2024, a year that saw Eflin concede 22 home runs over 165.1 IP.

Eflin has long been a heavy-ground ball pitcher, leaning heavily on a diverse pitch mix that includes a low-90s sinker with run and downward break, coupled with a curveball, changeup, and cutter. Additionally, Eflin would break out the four-seamer, a pitch that would get swings-and-misses out of his low arm slot.

This past season, though, Eflin leaned less on the sinker and more on the cutter. Additionally, he used the curveball 16.8% of the time in 2025, compared to 26.3% two years ago. Batters hit .431 off the curveball this past season, well above the .185 opponents’ batting average from two years ago.

Per multiple reports, including USA Today, the Orioles will sign Zach Eflin to a one-year deal worth $10MM.

Analysis

There has not been a ton of starting pitcher free agent action over the past few weeks, although that’ll change with Framber Valdez and Tatsuya Imai still on the market. And like Merrill Kelly and Dustin May, two of the other notable veterans to sign in December, this is a short-term deal.

Eflin gets a shot to try to market again in 2026 after an injury-shortened season. And in the interim, he’ll rejoin an Orioles rotation that’ll look remarkably different come next season.

Yes, the Orioles still have familiar faces, like Trevor Rogers, Kyle Bradish, Dean Kremer, and Tyler Wells on the roster. But now, the O’s do have more depth, as Baltimore brought back Eflin and also added his former teammate from Tampa Bay, Shane Baz.

Given how frequently teams must dip into the reserves to make up for innings thanks to injuries or other circumstances, depth for the Orioles, a team that had 10 different starters make at least four starts for the squad in 2025, should be welcome for Birds’ fans.

And, if Eflin can eat 120-130 innings effectively at a $10MM cost, that’s not bad value, either.

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