Trey Gibson was added to the Orioles’ taxi squad earlier today, and manager Craig Albernaz confirmed to reporters (including the Baltimore Banner’s Andy Kostka) that the O’s would be officially selecting the right-hander’s contract to the active roster on Sunday. The Orioles have available space on their 40-man roster, so just a 26-man move will be required to add Gibson before he makes his MLB debut in a start against the Yankees. Kostka was the first to report earlier today that Gibson was joining the Orioles this weekend in New York.
Since an illness sent Trevor Rogers to the 15-day injured list on Wednesday, a fill-in starter of some kind was needed to take Rogers’ next turn in the rotation. The pitching staff was then further scrambled by a doubleheader against the Astros on Thursday, so the O’s opted to promote Gibson since the right-hander would be on regular rest following his last Triple-A outing on April 26.
Facing Aaron Judge and company is a tough draw for any pitcher, let alone a 23-year-old in his first big league game. Gibson arrives in the Show on the heels of only okay (4.01 ERA, 21.9% strikeout rate, 10.5% walk rate, 52.1% grounder rate) numbers across 24 2/3 Triple-A innings this season, but most of the damage done against Gibson came in his first two starts. Since that slow start, the righty has posted a 2.55 ERA over his last five outings.
Gibson would probably have been drafted out of high school in 2020 if that year’s pandemic-shortened draft hadn’t been only five rounds long, so he instead went to play college ball at Liberty, but then went undrafted after an undistinguished college career. The Orioles signed him as a free agent in the summer of 2023, and Gibson has since emerged as one of baseball’s better pitching prospects. ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel slotted Gibson 46th on his preseason top-100 list, and Baseball America also had the right-hander 72nd on their preseason ranking.
Gibson’s arsenal is at least six pitches deep, with BA assigning at least a 55 grade to four of his offerings. His ability to fully command the majority of these pitches remains a question, yet working with the Orioles’ coaching staff to narrow his pitch mix down to just the cream of the crop might help Gibson’s chances of remaining as a starter in the majors. Gibson has generated a lot of grounders at every level of the minors and also racked up quite a few strikeouts, though a career 3.99 ERA in the minors indicates that Gibson’s deep pitching repertoire hasn’t entirely fooled minor league hitters.
With Rogers, Dean Kremer, and (out for the season) Zach Eflin all on the injured list, Baltimore has already been forced to dive deeper into its pitching depth chart than expected, even if Gibson was probably on track to make his MLB debut at some point in 2026 anyway. Brandon Young and Cade Povich remain the favorites for starting duty until at least Rogers is back, but since Kremer will likely miss most or all of May recovering from a quad strain, there could be room for Gibson to impress if he pitches well in this spot start.
