When Cole Irvin learned he’d been traded from the A’s to the Orioles on Thursday, his initial thought was about Gunnar Henderson, the new No. 1 overall prospect in baseball per MLB Pipeline.

Irvin came to Baltimore when Oakland played a three-game series at Camden Yards last Sept. 2-4. And what he saw from the O’s 21-year-old rising star left an impression.

“Shoot, the first thing that came to mind when I got the call was when we faced Baltimore at the end of last season, how many plays Gunnar Henderson made in that series against us,” Irvin said in a Zoom call with the media on Friday. “I think that kid’s jersey was dirty by the end of the first inning, just top to bottom.”

There’s another player on the Orioles’ roster who Irvin is happy he no longer has to pitch against.

“I’m just glad that I don’t have to face Ryan Mountcastle anymore,” Irvin said. “That guy’s got my number since like Double-A.”

Irvin began rattling off other players he’s excited to call his new teammates: Adley Rutschman, DL Hall, John Means, Kyle Gibson. The list could go on. The left-hander, who is set to turn 29 on Tuesday, was visibly excited about his next chapter in Baltimore and the opportunity to join an O’s pitching staff that showed major improvement last year.

The Orioles should be excited to have Irvin, too. He’s a dependable workhorse who pitches with a fast tempo and isn’t afraid to attack hitters, and he’s coming off a 2022 season in which he set career bests in ERA (3.98), WHIP (1.16), strikeouts (128) and innings pitched (181).

While Irvin doesn’t have overpowering stuff, he’s successful by knowing how to sequence pitches. His fastball averaged only 90.7 mph last year, but he has four other offerings (a sinker, a curveball, a changeup and a cutter) that he mixes in at the right times.

“I may not be fancy, I may not be lighting up the radar gun a lot of the time, but what I do is I think through my pitch selection, where I want to be, and I know how to get hitters out,” Irvin said. “At the end of the day, that’s all my job is to do -- is to get those guys out.”

Although Irvin had his best showing in the Majors last season, he didn’t quite finish the year the way he wanted. He posted an 8.23 ERA over five September starts before ending on a positive note with six scoreless innings vs. the Angels in the A’s penultimate game.

The September struggles impacted how Irvin approached the offseason, as he wanted to make sure he’s more successful in the later months of a long season. This winter, he’s been more focused on his long-toss routines and spent more time in the weight room to try to prevent the fatigue he could be feeling by September, rather than trying to build up to be ready to pitch multiple innings right at the start of Spring Training.

“I’m hopeful that everything kind of pushes out a little bit longer and that my stronger part of my season is toward the August, September, October months,” Irvin said.

One effect of Irvin’s revised offseason work has been an uptick in velocity. He said he typically sits at 83-84 mph in his bullpen sessions, but he’s been throwing around 90 of late. That could translate to the regular season and allow him to have a new career high in average four-seam fastball velocity (previously 92.8 in 2020).

Irvin is eager to work with the Orioles’ coaching staff. Following the trade on Thursday, he had a 45-minute call with manager Brandon Hyde and pitching coach/director of pitching Chris Holt. By Irvin’s estimation, 15 of those minutes were spent “just getting to know each other,” while the final 30 already delved into pitching talk.

If Irvin can take his game to another level in 2023, it’s just another reason for him to be optimistic about his future in Baltimore.

“I feel like I was wanted and feel like this organization saw value in what I can do and know how to bring it up, so I’ve got to be open to some changes or some different things, and I’m going to be all ears,” Irvin said. “It’s hard to just not smile and not be eager to get down to Spring Training with all the conversations I’ve had in the last, what, I think like 12 hours? It’s going to be a very fun season.”