The Baltimore Orioles are short of pitching depth and Trey Gibson can’t help them now. But in the future, that could change fast.
Trey Gibson won’t be helping the Baltimore Orioles’ starting rotation this season. The future is another story.
While Baltimore continues to try and deal with a myriad of injuries to their starting rotation, which has led to depth issues across the organization, Gibson continues to build a case to become a part of that rotation one day.
The Orioles have a banged-up starting rotation. Kyle Bradish, Cody Poteet, Grayson Rodriguez, Albert Suarez and Tyler Wells are all on the 60-day injured list. Cade Povich is on the 15-day IL.
Gibson, on the other hand, had a huge June with Double-A Chesapeake, the kind of month that gets the organization thinking about a promotion.
He was one of 10 pitchers highlighted by Baseball America’s Geoff Pontes in an article about June pitching performances.
He made five starts in June — one with High-A Aberdeen and four with Chesapeake — and went 1-1 with a 2.84 ERA. He struck out 38 and walked 11 in 25.1 innings.
That’s a far cry from his second start at Aberdeen on April 15. That game he gave up eight runs (five earned) in 3. 1innings and saw his ERA balloon to 7.71. He’s trimmed that season ERA by three points to 4.34.
Entering July, he is now 2-3 with 92 strikeouts and 25 walks in 58 innings. That April night is a memory now, as Pontes wrote about what intrigues the Orioles and scouts about the 23-year-old right-hander.
“Gibson mixes a mid-90s four-seam fastball, a mid-80s sweeper, a two-plane curveball, a cutter and changeup,” he wrote. “He combines shapes with good power and consistently uses his mix to keep hitters off balance.”
It’s quite the rise for Gibson, who is considered Baltimore’s No. 14 prospect per MLB Pipeline. He wasn’t even drafted out of Liberty University after the 2023 season and had to go the undrafted free agent route to get a shot.
In two collegiate seasons he went 10-9 with a 4.91 ERA with 1421 strikeouts and 51 walks in 121 innings.
Last year, his first full season as a pro, he had an awful record — 3-9 — but a respectable ERA at 3.72. Like this season, he showed off a great strikeout-to-walk ratio of 118 strikeouts to 39 walks.
That’s impressive enough to keep him moving in the Orioles’ system. Perhaps is enough to lead to a Triple-A promotion sometime this season.