{"id":601083,"date":"2026-03-02T05:15:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T05:15:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/601083\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T05:15:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T05:15:18","slug":"baltimore-orioles-player-makes-change-before-mlb-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/601083\/","title":{"rendered":"Baltimore Orioles Player Makes Change Before MLB Season"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Baltimore Orioles<\/a> are continuing to fine\u2011tune their roster heading into the upcoming season, with several players making adjustments in hopes of bouncing back or elevating their performance. After an active offseason that included adding key bullpen help, internal improvement remains just as important for a team with postseason aspirations.<\/p>\n

One area of focus is the bullpen, which showed flashes of dominance but also inconsistency at times last year. With new faces arriving and roles shifting, pitchers are being challenged to refine their arsenals and better complement the evolving staff around them. That includes one reliever who is looking to rediscover his previous form after a difficult 2025 campaign.<\/p>\n

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That pitcher is Yennier Cano, who is entering his fifth season with Baltimore and coming off the toughest year of his tenure with the organization. In 2025, Cano posted a 5.12 ERA across 58 innings, striking out 53 batters while allowing a career\u2011high seven home runs. He recorded just two saves and saw his role as a reliable setup option diminish as the season progressed.<\/p>\n

As he looks to turn things around, Cano is making a notable adjustment to his pitch mix.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore pitch change news: Yennier Cano has abandoned his circle change and is only using a splitter now. The splitter adds more depth and differs movement profiles compared to how his changeup ran (which was too close in movement to sinker), and splitter works well with four\u2011seam,\u201d reported Andy Kostka of The Baltimore Banner.<\/p>\n

The change is significant because Cano\u2019s effectiveness has always depended on how well his pitches complement each other. By moving away from a changeup that mirrored his sinker too closely, he is aiming to create more separation in movement and keep hitters off balance. The addition of a splitter could give him a more deceptive weapon, particularly against opposite\u2011handed batters.<\/p>\n

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This adjustment also comes at an important time for Baltimore\u2019s bullpen structure. With Ryan Helsley now expected to handle closing duties after signing in free agency, Cano is no longer under pressure to finish games. Instead, he can focus on regaining consistency in a lower\u2011leverage role and working his way back into high\u2011impact situations.<\/p>\n

If Cano can return closer to his 2023 form, when he earned an All\u2011Star selection and emerged as one of the league\u2019s more dependable relievers, it would significantly strengthen the Orioles\u2019 bullpen depth. For a team with playoff ambitions, that kind of internal bounce\u2011back could be just as valuable as any offseason addition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Baltimore Orioles are continuing to fine\u2011tune their roster heading into the upcoming season, with several players making…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":601084,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2374],"tags":[143,47,2538,5,78281,78279,4,125,78280,109,4962],"class_list":["post-601083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-baltimore-orioles","tag-baltimore","tag-baltimore-orioles","tag-baltimoreorioles","tag-baseball","tag-circle-change","tag-internal-improvement","tag-mlb","tag-orioles","tag-pitch-change","tag-ryan-helsley","tag-yennier-cano"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116157882454492084","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=601083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/601084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}