What to Expect from Orioles Pitcher Trey Gibson

The Orioles have had mixed success with young pitchers over the past few seasons. However, the hope is that the next wave of young pitching can get the O’s back in the postseason picture. The first pitcher from that new wave will make his MLB debut on May 3, as Trey Gibson will get the call for the Orioles.

A Look at Gibson

Last season was a banner one for Trey Gibson, once part of a Liberty University program that’s produced quality pitchers over the years — and continues to do so. However, Gibson may have turned into a potential steal for the O’s.

A dominant strikeout pitcher in 2021 and 2022 with the Flames, Gibson missed all of his junior season due to suspension, and ultimately signed as an undrafted free agent with the Orioles in 2023. He posted good numbers in 2024 before an explosion in 2025.

The right-hander struck out 67 batters over 38 innings with High-A Aberdeen, inducing a lot of swing-and-miss & exhibited good body control. He then posted a sub-2.00 ERA across 10 outings with Double-A Chesapeake before he finished last season with the Norfolk Tides.

This season, Gibson struck out 25 over 24 innings with the Norfolk Tides. His walk rate jumped between 2025 and 2026, as it sat at 4.4 BB/9 before the promotion. The good news, though, is that he was able to induce a good amount of chase, including on the sinker (29%) and the slider (50%).

When we went over our International League prospects preview, we noted how Trey Gibson’s slider exhibited signs of the “death ball,” a breaking ball that has a significant amount of depth & has become en vogue among the analytics community. However, Gibson’s arsenal is so much more than that.

Gibson, like a lot of pitchers who come up nowadays, regularly uses both his sinker and four-seamer, both almost equally in his most recent starts. And, both see regular usage against both lefties and righties, something to note given that some pitchers like to use the sinker as a weapon to jam same-sided hitters. But not Gibson.

This is against both lefties and righties.

The fastball capped out at 97 MPH this season, and there was a good amount of low-90-to-mid-90s fastballs from him. That was on par with where Gibson was in 2025. However, that velocity plays a little bit more with plus extension. He averaged 7.04” in terms of extension, which would be well above the league median.

Gibson gets a ton of swing-and-miss to his glove side, very noticeable to those who watched him in the Minors. Great feel for his breaking balls, between his mid-80s slider, sweeper, and he’ll also regularly work in a high-80s cutter that plays well off the sweeper. His cutter had a swing-and-miss rate of 31% this season with Norfolk.

It should be noted that up and to Gibson’s arm side, that 100% Whiff% is because of one whiff on one swing.

The Orioles will promote Trey Gibson to make his MLB debut on May 3 against the New York Yankees.

Analysis

It was a given that between now and November, the Orioles were going to add Gibson to the 40-man roster. However, now seems like a good time.

The O’s have been hit hard by the injury bug in recent weeks, as Dean Kremer is on the IL, and Trevor Rogers joined him thanks to an illness this week. Zach Eflin, who re-signed with the team in the winter, is done for 2026.

Baltimore had Brandon Young & Cade Povich make starts this past week, and now, Gibson will get a shot to see if he can be a valuable piece now for the team. And, if the audition goes well, he may be able to stick around for more than one start or two.

Gibson has a good arsenal, one that profiles well as a starter. He trusted his curveball to be a weapon to use against left-handed hitters, plus the aforementioned sweeper and slider for righties.

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