Question: What is it about Shane Baz that Mike Elias thought he was worth so much? Thanks for all you do. From: Jack Severino
Answer: Jack, thanks for reading. There aren’t many quality starting pitchers available in the trade market, and fewer have three years of club control. The Orioles are guaranteed to have a guy they think could be a really good starter for three years. That’s what’s so valuable.
Question: What would you say is the ceiling of Shane Baz? Is he a starting pitcher with ace potential? It just seems the O’s gave an awful lot for him. Would you consider him a strong third starting pitcher right now? Does he have as high an upside as Grayson Rodriguez? From: Mitch
Answer: Mitch, Elias said in his video conference call that he thinks Baz has the potential to be an ace. though he’s not predicting he’ll be a No. 1 starter in 2026. For the moment, I would slot him behind Kyle Bradish and Trevor Rogers and ahead of Dean Kremer and Tyler Wells.
Baz was the 12th pick in the 2017 draft by Pittsburgh. Rodriguez was taken by the Orioles with the 11th pick in the 2018 draft. Evidently, both teams valued them about the same.
Rodriguez has started 43 games with a 4.11 ERA in his career. Baz has started 54 with a 4.25 ERA. It will be interesting to track their careers and see how they do over the next few years.
Most weekdays, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles question. If you’d like to submit a question, send it to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com. Questions may be edited for clarity, length and style.