It wasn’t that long ago when Félix Bautista was thought of as one of the best relief pitchers in all of baseball. After bursting onto the scene in 2022, Bautista anchored the Baltimore Orioles bullpen in 2023, finishing the season with a 1.48 ERA to go along with 33 saves in 61 innings before having a premature end to his season due to a shoulder injury that eventually required Tommy John surgery.
Now, nearly two years later, fans received another ominous update about Bautista that seems eerily similar to that 2023 update. Earlier this week, the Orioles announced that Bautista would miss the rest of the 2025 season due to his shoulder injury that popped up at the end of July.
It also seems like the injury will impact his availability next year, as interim manager Tony Mansolino described Bautista’s injury as “significant,” while saying that the team was still figuring out the next steps. Yikes.
Orioles’ Félix Bautista disaster could wreck team plans through 2026
It can’t be overstated how much a long-term injury to Bautista would hurt the Orioles, especially considering he already missed all of the 2024 and part of 2025 due to that aforementioned Tommy John surgery. Mansolino said that Bautista has another appointment later this week to evaluate the injury.
While Bautista wasn’t at this best this year due to that aforementioned arm injury, he still recorded 19 saves in 34⅔ innings while racking up 50 strikeouts. Sure, his 2.60 ERA was higher than it was in his breakout 2023 season, but he still would have been in the top percentile in strikeout rate, whiff rate and expected ERA.
It’s tough to tell who will step up as the team’s closer if Bautista has to miss any portion of the 2026 season. They traded almost every other high-leverage arm at the trade deadline, which has led to Keegan Akin filling in as the team’s closer for the time being.
They could also elect to spend the money on a free agent closer (Edwin Diaz and Andres Muñoz could both be free agents depending on what they do with their respective options), or swing a trade for an impact reliever.
Imagine telling someone three years ago a move like that could be on the table for the Orioles.
