SARASOTA—A year ago, Albert Suárez was an unknown during Orioles spring training. This year, he’ll start the first Grapefruit League game on Saturday against Pittsburgh at Ed Smith Stadium.
In 2024, Suárez impressed the Orioles in spring training after not having pitched in the major leagues since 2017. He went down to Triple-A Norfolk but didn’t stay long.
His first start since September 23rd, 2016 came on April 17th, and he ended the season starting 24 times, tied with Dean Kremer for second-most on the team.
“Albert’s ready to go, and we’re going in order,” manager Brandon Hyde said Thursday. “Don’t read anything into it. Big Al’s ready and you work back from the first day of the season and do the best you can. Things change all the way through that. You shuffle some things around, but we’re stretching Al as a starter, and we’ll see how it goes.”