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How Ryan Mountcastle’s Time In Baltimore Came To A Slow-Burned End
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- How Ryan Mountcastle’s Time In Baltimore Came To A Slow-Burned End
(Kirby Lee - Imagn Images)
Mountcastle had a solid tenure in Baltimore.
Earlier this week, the Baltimore Orioles allowed first baseman Ryan Mountcastle to become a free agent for the first time in his career, ending his tenure with the team.
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In the midst of their roster shakeup to open the offseason, the Orioles opted to decline Mountcastle's $7.5 million club option, which makes him a free agent. While the split between the Orioles and Mountcastle feels abrupt, it is a decision that is built on the 29-year-old's past couple of seasons.
Last offseason, Baltimore avoided arbitration with Mountcastle and the two sides agreed to add a club option to his contract. But after an injury-riddled down year for Mountcastle and a minimized path to play at his position on the team, his time ran short with the organization.
Mountcastle played in just eight games for the Orioles in 2026, all in which came in the season's opening weeks. A left foot fracture landed him on the injured list on April 13, and he did not return to the Orioles despite an effort to do so.
As he was preparing to start a rehab assignment in Triple-A in July, he suffered a significant oblique strain ahead of his first game, according to Matt Weyrich of The Baltimore Sun . The injury would end up holding him out for the remainder of the year.
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However, this year marked the second straight season in which injuries impacted Mountcastle's time on the field. A right hamstring strain held Mountcastle to just 89 games played in 2025, in which he hit seven home runs and a career-worst 82 wRC+.
Mountcastle's time with the Orioles was not scarred with injuries up until the past couple of seasons. In fact, prior to that, his bat was one of the more underrated ones in the league, as he was an above-average hitter from 2021-2024 after a very solid debut year in the 2020 COVID season.
In that span, Mountcastle hit 86 home runs, owned a .260 batting average and posted a 110 wRC+ at the dish. His best season came in his sophomore year in 2021, when he slugged 33 homers in 144 games.
In the past few years in his Orioles tenure, Mountcastle had played exclusively at first base and designated hitter. He was quietly one of the better defensive first basemen in the American League, as he was named a Gold Glove finalist twice. However, his path for more at first base is now blocked by Pete Alonso, the Orioles' newest star who signed a five-year, $155 million deal prior to the 2026 season.
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While a number of players were slotted into designated hitter for the Orioles in 2026, there is a minimized amount of space to retain Mountcastle, who now comes at a higher price tag with a non-guarantee to be healthy. While it is a difficult decision for the organization to let him walk, the departure feels as if it were in the making when the Orioles committed a significant amount of money to their new slugging first baseman.
