Orioles' road trip provides homecoming for this pitcher

This story was excerpted from Jake Rill’s Orioles Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

BALTIMORE -- Arizona is a special place to Kyle Bradish.

The 26-year-old Orioles right-hander grew up in the desert, having been born in Peoria on Sept. 12, 1996. He attended Millennium High School in Goodyear, which is also where he met his wife, Mollie. He also began his baseball journey there, before traveling a bit east to attend New Mexico State University.

Among Bradish’s tattoos is one on his upper left shoulder blade -- an outline of Arizona with baseball seams crossing it vertically.

No matter what month it was during Bradish’s childhood, it was always baseball weather.

“Just growing up around the competition and being able to play baseball year-round, I think, really helped me,” Bradish said. “There were a lot of good teams there, a lot of good players coming out of Arizona.”

Bradish included. And now, he’s heading back to pitch as a big leaguer in his home state for the first time this weekend, when Baltimore is set to play three games vs. Arizona at Chase Field.

When the D-backs played their inaugural game on March 31, 1998, Bradish was only 18 months old. He’s never pitched off the mound at the ballpark in downtown Phoenix -- not even in a high school showcase game or any type of All-Star event -- but he’ll be quite familiar with his surroundings when he toes the rubber there Saturday evening.

“It’ll be very cool. I grew up going to games there, watching the Diamondbacks play,” Bradish said. “I know I’m going to have a lot of family there, so that’ll be fun. I’ll just try to treat it like another series, just not try to get too caught up in it.”

That could prove to be at least a bit challenging. As Bradish noted, he has a large family and is expecting at least 25 relatives to be in attendance. Other supporters will include some of his friends and former coaches who have helped him along the way.

But Bradish is typically laser-focused, so he may not have trouble keeping his mind on his goal of another strong outing -- which have become common occurrences for the righty these days.

After spending the offseason training in Arizona, Bradish is having a breakout 2023 season, building upon his solid ‘22 rookie campaign with Baltimore. He owns a 3.03 ERA through 24 starts, recording a 1.11 WHIP and 130 strikeouts over 133 2/3 innings.

Bradish pitched especially well in August, when he posted a 2.12 ERA over five starts. He also notched at least seven strikeouts in four of those outings.

“He's definitely looking like someone who's got a 3.00 ERA or below, which is a top-of-the-rotation type of guy," manager Brandon Hyde said earlier this month.

With roughly one month to go in the regular season, Bradish is potentially pushing himself into the American League Cy Young Award conversation. And he’s done so with an arsenal that has looked a bit different from his 2022 rookie form.

Bradish is now throwing his slider more than any other pitch (30.5 percent of the time), a slight uptick from his usage of the offering in 2022 (29.8). However, he’s no longer throwing his four-seam fastball as much (down from 44.5 percent to 23.9) due to his increased sinker usage (up from 4.4 percent to 19.2).

This season, Bradish has already thrown more innings than any previous year of his professional career (138 2/3, including one Minor League rehab start). But the Orioles are working to keep him and their other young starters fresh by utilizing a six-man rotation.

Several weeks ago, Bradish didn’t think he was going to get to face the D-backs based on how his schedule lined up. Baltimore’s move to six starters -- along with some shuffling caused by general soreness for right-hander Jack Flaherty -- now has Bradish set to pitch in Arizona.

And he’s looking forward to it quite a bit.

“It’ll be a really cool moment,” Bradish said.