New to the O's 40-man roster, Kade Strowd is pushing for big league time

The right-hander is armed with a new pitch to take his shot in 2025

An Oriole since Mike Elias drafted him in Round 12 in 2019, righty reliever Kade Strowd spent the past three Novembers as a minor league pitcher eligible for the Rule 5 draft.

But he was not selected by any club, nor was he protected by the Orioles from that draft on their 40-man roster.

That was until last Nov. 19.

“It was just another day in the offseason, working out in the morning and doing some throwing,” Strowd recalled for me yesterday during a phone interview from O’s spring camp in Florida. “Eve (Rosenbaum, O’s assistant general manager) called me and I was over the moon about it. Could not have had any more positive emotions about it.”

So now he was added to the 40-man, somewhat of a surprise addition considering his modest stats last year. But now he would go to his second spring camp (he was a non-roster player in 2023). Now he could make his big league debut in 2025.

The hard-throwing righty is now also armed with a new pitch, one that could be big for him. With that pitch and confidence from a strong ending to last season with Triple-A Norfolk, he is ready to make his run for the big leagues this summer.

His 2024 season began with him back at Double-A Bowie (now Chesapeake) where he rolled off 10 1/3 scoreless and made his first move to Triple-A. Over 37 games with the Tides he was 4-2 with a 6.80 ERA. But 11 of his 34 runs allowed came over two outings.

He posted both big walk (5.9 per nine) and strikeout rates (13.2 per nine) with the Tides over 41 innings.

“I had some ups and downs last year but really ended on a high note. I kind of showed what I have the capability to do and I needed that for my own reasons and they were pleased to see it too.”

In his last 10 games starting Aug. 17, he pitched to a 2.08 ERA over 13 innings with one walk to 17 strikeouts. Some things came together and the Orioles noticed as Strowd would truly find out in November.

Now he has a chance to realize his MLB dream.

“This is the first step to where I’ve wanted to be my whole life,” he said Saturday.

In conversations with O’s player development staff over the last couple of years, I have often heard Strowd’s name.

“This guy flies under the radar Steve, but we really like his arm,” was something I heard a few times.

In 2024 Strowd threw his cutter 42 percent, his four-seam fastball 28 percent while using a curveball 15 percent, slider 10 and changeup five. He averaged 96 mph, touching 98.

He can throw the ball by hitters but when he pitched right-handers away he found they could lean over the plate and take away pitches to right field for hits.

Now he has something to combat that.

Enter the two-seam fastball, a pitch that sinks and can break down and in to righties when it has good, sharp movement.

The O’s suggested Strowd add that pitch and he spent the winter working on it, after using it a small amount very late last year. This spring he is breaking it out big time.

“Introducing the sinker gets (righty) hitters off the pitch over the outer half of the plate. With my cutter I’m in the zone a lot more than most of my pitches. But if I get that two-seamer in there it will make it tougher on them,” said Strowd, 27.

He has seen the two-seam really coming on this spring and throws it about the same velocity as the four-seamer.

Now he can attack lefties with a cutter in and righties with the two-seam in.

In his first three spring games over 2 2/3 innings for the Orioles he allowed one hit and two unearned runs.

The two-seamer could be a difference maker for him this season.

“I think it can be for sure,” he said.

Now he has pitches with decent velocity moving in both directions, in to right handers with the two-seam sinker and away from them with cutters and breaking pitches. He said he got good feedback on the two-seam from O’s hitters after live bullpen sessions.

Now he has to cut down on his walk rates and get ahead of more hitters, so he can get to his strikeout stuff. But sometimes, he now realizes, he has to be happy with an out where they put the ball in play too. Get early contact when he can.

“My whole career at times I have had stuff that kind of stands out but I feel like I’ve also struggled with the fact that sometimes I get into an attitude where I try to strike everyone out and that’s never going to happen. I would put myself in a hole,” said Strowd.

Strowd has seen a lot in his six years in the organization. He’s seen the O’s big league team rise to the top of the league and the farm system come a long way too.

“We’ve all been held to a standard where, there is a reason we became the No. 1 farm system and one of the better teams in major league baseball. We’ve seen how good we can be and hopefully we keep doing that,” he said.

It’s been a big few months for this pitcher, added to the roster in November and now armed with a new pitch in camp. As a 40-man ‘pen guy with options, he hopes to make his MLB debut this summer for the Orioles.