Grant Wolfram came to the Orioles in April 2025 in a minor trade with the Milwaukee Brewers. He made his Major League debut at that month at the age of 28. He ultimately appeared in 21 games for the Orioles over three separate stints. He ended the year with a 5.40 ERA and mostly seemed like the kind of pitcher we didn't need to pay much attention to.
Then he made the 2026 Opening Day roster and somehow became a fixture in the team's bullpen. He spent the entire season with the big league club and made 60 appearances, becoming a go-to lefty with the loss of Keegan Akin to injury. And while his overall numbers (4.30 ERA, 1.318 WHIP) were underwhelming, to say the least, he was a pitcher that had runs of effectiveness over the season.
The funny thing about Wolfram appearing in 60 games, which was the third-most on the team after Rico Garcia and Yennier Cano, is that he was pretty unmemorable. If you asked me to name the guys in the bullpen, I'd probably get to him after Garcia, Cano, Andrew Kittredge, and Albert Suárez. But he was really a big part of the team!
Wolfram made 16 appearances through the team's first 37 games. His ERA in that span was an unsightly 4.85. It was only 13 innings, so just a blip. But not a good first impression for the season!
The 4.85 ERA wasn't really fair to him, though, as his FIP was a minuscule 0.95. If you're not as familiar with FIP, it's a stat that tries to remove defense from the equation when measuring a pitcher's effectiveness. As you may recall, the Orioles were really bad on defense this year. And if FIP is to be believed, Wolfram was a major victim in the first part of the season.
Across those 16 games with mismatched ERA and FIP, Wolfram pitched 13 innings, recording 20 strikeouts and just one walk. He gave up no homers, which is good, but nine extra-base hits, which is bad. His BABIP was .500(!) in that span, so he got very unlucky.
I'm singling out his first 16 games because after that, on May 6th, Wolfram went on the Injured List with a lower back strain. Luckily, he needed just the minimum stay to recover and after that was healthy for the rest of the season.
Upon his return, Wolfram continued to pitch well without always getting great results in the ERA column. In June he held opposing batters to a .182/.250/.212 hitting line. In July, it was .154/.303/.308. In July, he allowed his first home run of the season. But still, his ERA stayed above 4.00. In June and July combined, Wolfram had a 4.15 ERA. Nearly all of that came in a stretch of three games when Wolfram allowed six runs. Overall, he appeared in 22 games in June and July and allowed zero runs in 18 of those.
That's how Wolfram's season went for the most part. He'd look good for long stretches, then allow two or three runs in one outing to completely skew the stat line. He gave up runs in just 13 of his 60 games pitched, but nine of those were multi-run outings.
So where did Wolfram go right in 2026? He is a lefty pitcher who can dial up the radar gun to over 95 mph. Those sort of pitchers aren't as rare as they used to be, but still a hot commodity. Especially when that velocity comes with a strikeout per nine of 10.5 and just one home run allowed all season.
Leading into 2026, Keegan Akin was a go-to lefty for the team despite how we all felt about him. He lost that position this year due to injury and became a free agent when the World Series ended. Another lefty who made the 2026 Opening Day roster was Dietrich Enns. Enns was pretty bad and spent most of the season at Triple-A. The Orioles had a team option on him for next year, which they unsurprisingly declined.
There is an entire off-season for things to change, but Wolfram isn't going anywhere except maybe the minors. He's got two options remaining. He's cheap and will be for some time. He's not young; he turns 30 in December. His main competition in the bullpen currently is Josh Walker .
If Wolfram is good next year, great! If he's bad, it's really no big whoop as long as the Orioles have enough depth to withstand the blow. That's the nature of the bullpen. So good luck to Grant Wolfram! He was okay in 2026, maybe he'll be okay in 2027.
