Once an afterthought, left-hander Trevor Rogers is officially the ace of the Baltimore Orioles’ pitching staff.

The Orioles are handing the ball to Rogers on opening day, the club announced Friday, picking a pitcher who broke out as one of the most dominant arms in baseball last season to set the tone at Camden Yards on March 26 against the Minnesota Twins.

Baltimore could hardly go wrong with either of the two obvious choices for opening day starter, be it Rogers or right-hander Kyle Bradish. The pair of them appear to be a one-two punch atop a rotation that is expected to be an improvement over last year’s iteration.

Rogers is certainly deserving. The rise for him has been swift. In 2024, when the Orioles acquired him from the Miami Marlins, Rogers struggled to find his form and was optioned to the minors after four starts to focus on adjustments.

He returned in 2025 as a star. Rogers posted a 1.81 ERA with a 0.90 WHIP in 18 starts last season. But Rogers still attacked this winter with improvements in mind, such as mechanical efficiencies out of the stretch. He looked to naturally gain velocity and enhance the spin of his sweeper, too.

“I think we both agree there’s still a little more in the tank,” Rogers said last month of him and Dylan Gargas, his pitching coordinator at Driveline before Gargas joined the Nationals as their Triple-A pitching coach.

Rogers’ spring performances have reinforced the work he put in. So far, he has struck out six batters while producing five scoreless innings in two official Grapefruit League games.

This will be Rogers’ first career opening day start, and he is the fifth different Oriole to take the ball to begin the season in five years. He joins John Means, Kyle Gibson, Corbin Burnes and Zach Eflin as recent opening day starters.

The upcoming season is another big year for Rogers, as well as the Orioles. Rogers is set to become a free agent at the end of 2026.

Around Rogers and Bradish are a few additions, such as Shane Baz and Chris Bassitt. The rest of the rotation picture includes Eflin, Dean Kremer and Cade Povich. That group is better in Rogers’ mind than some think.

“We both knew, probably even before we got into camp, how good this rotation can be,” Rogers said Friday of his and Bradish’s outlook. “This is probably one of the most underrated rotations in all of baseball. It’s probably the best command rotation that I’ve been a part of. And then having Bradish at the top of it, his overall stuff and velocity, spin, you name it, he’s going to be huge for us this year.”

Bradish has been equally complimentary of Rogers. Earlier this spring, Bradish joked that Rogers’ performances rendered any talk of an opening day competition moot.

“I don’t know how much competition there is after that performance yesterday from Rogers,” Bradish said.

In the end, Rogers said last month that the order of who throws in the rotation means little to him.

“If he gets the nod, I’ll be rooting for him,” Rogers said of Bradish. “If I get the nod, that’s great. All I want is I want to pitch in Camden.”

It turns out that it’ll be Rogers pitching at Camden Yards first.