Trevor Rogers is a pitcher at the top of his game. He just started opening day for the Orioles and spun seven shutout innings. He posted a 1.81 ERA last year and by every metric is (or should be) a star.

And yet, as Rogers sat a few lockers down from right-hander Kyle Bradish during spring training this month, the southpaw who technically is ahead of Bradish in the rotation pecking order shook his head in awe.

“I’d give anything to spin the baseball like him,” Rogers said.

Really? Anything? You’re Trevor Rogers, remember?

“He can spin the baseball like I’ve never seen before,” Rogers insisted.

There is a similar sentiment around the Orioles’ clubhouse when discussing Bradish, who is fully healthy after two injury-interrupted seasons. The Orioles didn’t acquire the top-end starting pitcher they sought over the winter, but when those within the organization discuss the outlook of this improved rotation, there’s almost an elongation when Bradish’s name is said.

Bradish, they say, as if the name alone is imposing. It may as well be.

“He can be a guy with [Paul] Skenes and [Tarik] Skubal right now,” Rogers said. “When you bring up Kyle Bradish, it’s like, ‘Damn, it’s going to be a long one for the other side.’ And on our side it’s like, ‘Yeah, we got Bradish.’”

This is not a new phenomenon. Before Bradish suffered an elbow injury that required surgery — thus holding him to 71 1/3 innings in 2024 and 2025 — his 2.83 ERA in 2023 earned him a fourth-place finish in Cy Young voting.

The Orioles hope, then, for two things. One, that Bradish is healthy for an entire season. And, two, that he mirrors the success he has already found in the majors.

With both of those goals in mind, Bradish returned to Arizona and began gearing up for 30-plus starts. At Push Performance, a training center at which he has worked since 2020, Bradish steadily built up his arm with a throwing program made by Orioles pitching coach Drew French.

It was similar in a sense to the throwing program designed for a pitcher who is returning from Tommy John surgery, but Bradish’s routine was on a tighter timeline.

“We monitored workload and introduced intensity at the right time, introduced spin at the right time,” said Marcel Renteria, Bradish’s pitching coach at Push Performance. “It was one of those we knew he could go and grab 95, 96 [mph] at any moment in the offseason, but it was one of those where we’re like, we want peak Kyle midseason.”

Renteria has seen peak Bradish many times, and he hopes to see it again when Bradish takes the mound Saturday against the Minnesota Twins. They pitched together at New Mexico State, and when Bradish was a freshman and Renteria was a redshirt junior, Renteria said he could tell the future was bright.

“He was a very scrawny, lanky kid, just fresh out of high school,” Renteria said. “You know those puppies with big paws, and you’re like, ‘Damn, that’s gonna be a big dog’ just ’cause you see the paws? He was one of those dudes.”

He soon filled out his frame, and by working with strength coach Taylor Davis at Push Performance and with Austin Ryf at Next Era Physical Therapy over the years, Bradish ensured his build allowed him to maximize his potential.

Right-hander Dean Kremer, who has trained in the winter with Bradish before, said his friend’s discipline and attention to the small details allow him to make incremental improvements. And, even though Bradish had a lengthy recovery period, he was patient — not rushing a return that would jeopardize his long-term outlook.

For much of that rehab, Bradish worked alongside right-hander Tyler Wells, who also underwent elbow surgery in 2024. Wells said Bradish carried a “consistency in his intent for everything he’s doing.”

“If there’s one thing both me and him are not, it’s patient,” Wells said. But Bradish’s patience leading into his late-season 2025 return set him up for success. Bradish pitched in six games at the end of last year, and he produced a 2.53 ERA.

Was he fully back? No. But it laid the groundwork for a pivotal offseason.

“It gave me even more confidence coming back, knowing that I’m pretty close to the guy I was before TJ,” Bradish said.

“I’m sure at times his patience was wearing thin,” Rogers said, “but he was always checking boxes and making sure he was stacking days when he was on the shelf. I think that paid off.”

It’s almost boring, Rogers said, to watch Bradish do his work between starts. There are no flashy elements that make him stick out in a room full of professional athletes.

That’s probably by design. At this point, Bradish has a well-crafted routine. He “doesn’t mess around when he’s in the weight room or in the gym,” Renteria said. Bradish gets his work done and then doesn’t try to overdo it.

That will be key as the Orioles monitor how to use him this year. Baltimore hasn’t committed to the idea of an arbitrary innings limit. Instead, the Orioles plan to work closely with Bradish to discern how he feels between each outing.

But Bradish came into this season with the mentality of a pitcher planning to start 30 or more games. On top of the slow build in intensity, Bradish and Renteria tinkered with a changeup with that full season of starts in mind. Bradish said he’s going to stick with his four main pitches — sinker, slider, four-seam fastball and curveball — but having a changeup in his back pocket could help him later in the year.

The Orioles want Bradish in those big situations, be it during a divisional race or the postseason. They built him up this winter with that in mind. And on Saturday, when Bradish takes the mound for his season debut, the opposing hitters will have their work cut out for them once again.

“We’re definitely excited to have him,” said Kremer, who’s beginning the year in Triple-A. “I’m sure the fans are excited to have him. I’m sure everyone is excited to see him have another full season under his belt.”