Orioles reliever expected to miss 12 months after shoulder surgery

The Baltimore Orioles announced Wednesday that right-hander Felix Bautista has undergone surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff and torn labrum in his right shoulder. He is expected to miss the next 12 months. Jake Rill of MLB.com was among those to relay the news.

The news is obviously brutal for the O’s and Bautista. He just missed the entire 2024 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery. He got back on the mound this year and showed some flashes of his old self. However, he’s now going to miss the remainder of the 2025 season and a huge chunk of 2026 as well. Given the estimated timeline, any kind of setback could lead to him missing another entire season.

Prior to the injury setbacks, he had established himself as one of the most dominant relievers in the game. Over the 2022 and 2023 campaigns, he gave the O’s 126 2/3 innings with a tiny 1.85 earned run average. His 10% walk rate was a bit on the high side and his 39.9% ground ball rate wasn’t special but he punched out a massive 40.4% of batters faced.

As mentioned, he showed some hints of that form in 2025, though also with some rust. He logged 34 2/3 innings this year with a 2.60 ERA. His 35.2% strikeout rate was technically a drop-off but still a great figure. Meanwhile, his grounder rate jumped to 50.7%. On the worrying side, his walk rate spiked to 16.2%.

Perhaps he would have continued refining things as he got more innings and shook off the rust, but that won’t happen now. He landed on the 15-day IL in July due to shoulder discomfort. It was announced by the team in August that his injury was “significant” and that he wouldn’t be coming back this year. Wednesday’s news provides more clarity on how dire the situation is. It’s possible that Bautista eventually throws fewer than 40 innings for the 2024-26 stretch. If he returns late next year, he could push a bit beyond that number, but likely not by much.

Bautista is controllable through 2027. He is making just $1M this year. He will be due a raise in arbitration for 2026 and 2027 but the missed time cuts into his ability to substantially increase his salary. Given his ceiling, the O’s will surely tender him a contract with the hope of him contributing late in 2026 and/or for the entire 2027 campaign.

For the O’s, it’s the latest kick to the nuts in a season that has seen them pummeled by injuries. They came into the year knowing that Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells would be rehabbing from last year’s surgeries, but then they have also seen guys like Grayson Rodriguez, Zach Eflin, Andrew Kittredge, Albert Suárez and others miss significant time. On the position player side, Tyler O’Neill, Adley Rutschman, Colton Cowser, Ryan Mountcastle and others missed chunks of time.

Those injuries helped push the O’s down in the standings. Though they came into the year with clear postseason aspirations, they wound up deadline sellers. Cedric Mullins, Kittredge, Gregory Soto, Seranthony Domínguez, Bryan Baker, Charlie Morton, Ramón Urías, Ramón Laureano and Ryan O’Hearn were all flipped before the deadline.

The club is now playing out the string on the 2025 season, so the Bautista injury is fairly moot for the short term. But his extended timeline hurts for 2026. As mentioned, the O’s already flipped four relievers last month, putting a big dent in the bullpen. Bautista is an even bigger loss.

Though they sold at the deadline, it’s assumed that the club intends to rebound and compete again in 2026, as they have a young and exciting core to build around. Presumably, the Orioles already planned on making a few bullpen moves in the coming offseason. This news should only enhance the need.

For Bautista personally, it’s another delay in him unlocking a notable paycheck. The late bloomer didn’t crack the big leagues until he was in his age-27 season. Despite his excellent results, he’s now 30 and hasn’t made more than $1M in a season, which is barely above the league minimum. The two lengthy surgery absences will dampen his earning power in arbitration. He’s not slated to reach free agency until after his age-32 campaign. He may be healthy by that point, but clubs will still note the injury track record.