Even on their off day, the Orioles managed to find a way to put a player on the injured list. The team placed starting pitcher Dean Kremer on the 15-day injured list with an announced right quad strain. As a corresponding move, pitcher Brandon Young was recalled from Triple-A Norfolk.
Kremer was the guy on turn to start tomorrow’s game against the Red Sox, so that’s wiped right out by this injury. Young is now set to start the game instead. The roster maneuvering is neat enough. The 27-year-old Young was no good in 12 starts a year ago, though he made a nice first 2026 impression with a five-inning spot start against the White Sox back on April 6. Young allowed two hits while keeping Chicago off the board in that game.
Since this move was announced on the off day, there was not an immediate media availability to give an indication of how severe the team believes the injury to be and how long Kremer might be out. The move is retroactive to April 20. Kremer can be brought back 15 days after that.
This is assuming that Kremer is healthy and ready to go. There was no indication that he might be hurt when he delivered a delightful mid-game interview on MASN earlier in the week. It’s more tough luck for a guy who was shuffled to the minors to begin this season and didn’t get recalled even when Zach Eflin went down with a torn UCL. Kremer only got to make two starts before his own trip to the injured list. He allowed five earned runs in 11 innings, a 4.09 ERA. That is almost perfectly in line with the full season ERAs from 2023, 2024, and 2025.
There are a number of injured Orioles about whom we could get updates from manager Craig Albernaz on Friday. The team certainly knows what was on Jackson Holliday’s wrist MRI by now. There could be updates on any of the relievers Keegan Akin, Dietrich Enns, and Andrew Kittredge. There might be an update or even news regarding Tyler O’Neill’s progression in returning from a concussion.
With Young arriving to replace Kremer, the Orioles also set their remaining starters for the weekend. Trevor Rogers is set to pitch on Saturday, with Kyle Bradish pitching on Sunday. The team has used the off day Thursday to give those guys an extra day of rest. If they had wanted to, they could have skipped Kremer’s turn and had Rogers and Bradish pitch on regular rest on Friday and Saturday.