The Orioles are re-signing right-hander Zach Eflin to a one-year, $10 million deal, a source told MLB.com’s Jake Rill. The club has not confirmed the contract, which includes a mutual option for 2027.
Eflin, 31, returned to free agency after completing the three-year, $40 million deal he signed with the Rays after the 2022 season. Traded to the Orioles during the second year of the deal, the right-hander struggled through an injury-plagued 2025 campaign with Baltimore, posting a 5.93 ERA over 14 starts.
Now entering his age-32 season, Eflin will be looking to recapture the form he showed across 2023-24, a stretch in which he delivered a 3.54 ERA in 59 starts.
Eflin did not receive a qualifying offer from the Orioles after this past season, so there is no Draft pick compensation attached to him, or penalty for signing him.
A control artist with a lifetime 1.9 BB/9, Eflin was at his best in 2023. He earned a sixth-place finish in the American League Cy Young Award voting that year, finishing with a 3.50 ERA and a 7.75 K/BB ratio over a career-high 177 2/3 innings. He followed that up with a 3.59 ERA over 165 1/3 innings in 2024, including a stellar 2.60 ERA over nine starts after joining the Orioles.
Eflin also started strong in 2025, delivering three straight quality starts to begin the season — including six innings of two-run ball in the O’s Opening Day win over the Blue Jays. But his year unraveled after he suffered a right lat strain in April. He returned in May but never regained his form, and recurring back trouble ultimately led to season-ending surgery.
Injuries have been a recurring theme for Eflin going back to his time with the Phillies. He’s made more than 18 starts in a season only four times in his 10-year career, during which he has pitched to a 4.28 ERA over 1,073 2/3 innings.
