The Orioles Must Get Creative To Revamp Their Outfield For 2027

The Baltimore Orioles had one of the worst-fielding and weakest-hitting outfields in MLB in 2025.

The Baltimore Orioles have one the worst-fielding and weakest-hitting outfields in MLB again in 2026.

It simply cannot happen again in 2027.

No matter who is charge of the roster, and if it’s baseball failure Mike Elias, then this becomes even more imperative (because his track record with everything to do with job stinks, but outfielder development is a particular nadir). A complete overhaul is necessary.

We broke down the metrics and laid out the argument earlier this week, and the rot runs all the way through the organization with no hope in sight. Every outfielder of note in the system took a major step back this season due to injuries or lack of production or both, the addition from the outside (Taylor Ward) was a joke and somehow we are eight years into a rebuild that has been heavy on top draft picks spent on college outfield bats and newly-acquired AAAA-guy Christian Franklin is getting more of a run than any of them.

This is total and complete failure.

And it must stop.

And longtime MLB exec Jim Duquette, who has deep ties and experience with the Orioles, agrees completely. It is the area of the roster that will need overhaul above and beyond everything else if this team is going to compete for anything real next season, and it will require much more foresight and consideration in finding skillsets that compliment one another and make sense on the field and on the bench.

“The outfield is a concern for sure,” Duquette told me.

Who Stays And Who Goes

We broke the outfield roster down with Duquette on “The Daily Flock Show,” and construction must begin with a new everyday centerfielder and at least one new corner outfielder. Now, could that be Jackson Holliday and Blaze Alexander moving from the infield to the outfield?

Quite possibly, depending on what they do with Gunnar Henderson (if he isn't quickly dealt this offseason then he needs to move to third base).

Duquette was adamant that with the proper training he thinks Holliday could go to center, and longtime MLB GM Dan O’Dowd, also a former Orioles exec, told me the same. Both believe he is “athletic enough” to do it and could be better out in space.

So perhaps that takes care of centerfield. As for the two guys manning it this season – former top five pick Colton Cowser and low-level free agent Leody Taveras – it’s silly to have them both and it’s time to move Cowser. As for him being an everyday player (he has a .486 OPS in 72 night games this season; yes you read this correctly, with 64 strikeouts and 6 RBIS), well …

“That ship has passed … he’s an extra outfielder,’ Duquette said. Taveras is duplication. You don't need you don't need both of those guys. If you want to keep one, then then keep one and, you know, let the other one go.”

Taveras is a switch hitter, a better base stealer and better in bunting situations. He’d get my vote.

Tyler O’Neill (the $19M man) broke down again and is going to miss the rest of the season with a shoulder injury. Duquette agrees with what I wrote way back in May – the Orioles needed to eat his salary to move him by the deadline. Elias gave him a terrible contract, which he and I both called in real time on the radio at the time.

“We were first-guessing on that because of the injury history,” he noted.

Bad Free-Agent Class

The Orioles are going to have to get creative, because the free agent class stinks and is especially devoid of outfielders (I’ll pass on Randy Arozarena with his wild peaks and valleys). Maybe they get an MLB-ready outfielder back as part of the Henderson package.

And then there is the issue of a balance of righty and lefty bats, because of all the damage Elias has done since he’s been here, twice butchering Camden Yards among his biggest misdeeds, rendering the park obsolete and a career-killer for former slugging right-handed hitting left fielders like Austin Hays and Ryan Mountcastle (yeah was in the OF back then) and now, Ward, and quite difficult to defend.

“It could be - go out and get some outfielders,” Duquette said. “That's okay, too. But what’s made it a little confusing even with a guy like Ward - he wasn't good defensively and, you know, ended up not having anywhere near the season that he should have. I think there is some ballpark, stadium-type issues that you have to be concerned about, too.

“I mean, that guy was a legit power hitter and he comes to Camden Yards and he's afraid to the pull side because that, you know, it's like Death Valley out there.”

Yet another unforced, self-made error from Elias, whose ego and hubris is beyond outsized despite being utterly pathetic at just about every part of his job.

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