Orioles agree to minor league deal with free agent right-hander Enoli Paredes” 7News’ Ari Alexander reports. He will attend major league training camp next spring as a non-roster invitee.
Paredes, who turns 30 in September, is no stranger to Orioles president of baseball operations Mike Elias. He originally signed with the Astros as an amateur in 2016, when Elias was Houston’s director of scouting. However, by the time Paredes became one of Houston’s most high-profile pitchers and subsequently made his MLB debut, Elias had already jumped ship to Baltimore.
In parts of four major league seasons with the Astros, Brewers and Cubs, Paredes totaled 54 innings and posted a 3.00 ERA, but that was more about the rate stats. He fanned a slightly below-average 21.7 percent of opponents, but walked just 16.8 percent of the batters he faced in the majors. Paredes keeps the ball firmly on the ground, averaging over 95 mph on his four-seamer, and does a good job of avoiding hard contact, but his lack of command is a glaring flaw.
Paredes spent 2025 with Atlanta’s Triple-A affiliate in Gwinnett. He threw 57 1/3 pitches with a 4.40 ERA, a 27.6% strikeout rate, and an 11.5% on-base percentage (plus seven other slugging batters and four wild pitches). Paredes posted a sub-3.00 ERA in Triple-A in 2024 and 2022, but he consistently posted a very high walk rate in both Triple-A and MLB.
There’s a lot of uncertainty in the O’s bullpen Felix Bautista Had shoulder surgery that will keep him out for all of 2026. They further streamlined their relief corps ahead of the July trade deadline, shipping Serantoni Dominguez, Gregory Soto, Brian Baker and Andrew Kitteridge — even though they later reacquired Kittredge from the Cubs. Regardless, Dominguez and Soto are both free agents, but Baker is under the club’s control until 2028. Yenil KanoThis year’s inconsistent season and poor cumulative results make it difficult to count on him entering the 26th season.
Kittredge, Carnot, Keegan Akin and Albert Suarez He is the only reliever on Baltimore’s roster with two years of major league service. Given the lack of clear options in the final innings, the Orioles will be aggressive in bringing in bullpen help — both in the form of existing weapons and low-cost depth grabs like today’s Paredes trade.
