Baltimore Orioles Manager Says Superstar Closer Félix Bautista is Healthy

The Baltimore Orioles suffered through some major bad luck in the injury department in the 2024 season and had to limp to the finish line just to make the playoffs coming off their first division title in a decade in 2023.
One player who they lost long before the 2024 campaign began was superstar closer Félix Bautista who had a huge 2023 season stepping into the shutdown role that was cut short in August with an elbow injury.
Bautista had Tommy John surgery the following February and missed the entire 2024 season.
This was a devastating blow to the Orioles bullpen which would rank No. 23 in the league in terms of bullpen ERA in 2024 with a 4.22 after a 2023 season in which they had a top-five unit in the same statistic with a 3.55.
After what has been a painstakingly long rehab process for Bautista, Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde says that he is healthy and ready to go.
"He's coming off Tommy John, it's a big body with a lot of effort, but when he just got done with his last bit of rehab and now he's having a normal offseason...he was throwing in the upper-90's, he's ready to go," Hyde said to MLB Network Radio, adding that he will be cautious with him early in the year. "So you feel good about where he is right now...he's as dominant as anybody is in the back end of a game, but I'm probably gonna baby him a little bit early and try to keep him as healthy as I can for the full season."
In 56 appearances prior to the injury in 2023, Bautista was nothing short of sensational in his first season as the closer. He posted a blazing ERA of 1.48 with a WHIP of 0.918 and a ridiculous 110 strikeouts in 61 innings, good for a strikeouts per nine innings rate of 16.2. This was a huge step from a very solid debut season in 2022 as a setup man with a 2.19 ERA in 65 appearances with 88 strikeouts in 65.2 innings.
By the sounds of it, the organization is bringing him along the right way in his recovery and exercising abundant caution with the future of their bullpen.
If Bautista can get back to form and demonstrate to the team early that he's fully healthy and ready for a full load, all signs are pointing to him being a massive part of the Orioles pitching staff both in 2025 and for years to come.