Orioles opening day Thursday went off without a hitch — beautiful weather, a bigger scoreboard, Pete Alonso’s debut and a 2-1 win.

Friday might be even better.

The Orioles on Friday afternoon agreed with starting pitcher Shane Baz on a five-year, $68 million contract extension, two sources with direct knowledge of the deal confirmed to The Baltimore Sun. The team announced the deal Friday evening.

The contract will buy out two of Baz’s free agent years, keeping the right-hander in Baltimore through the 2030 season. It is the largest contract given to a pitcher in Orioles history.

Mike Elias, the Orioles’ general manager since November 2018, went the first 2,471 days of his tenure without signing a player to an extension. He’s now done so twice in the past 217 days. In August, the Orioles signed catcher Samuel Basallo to an eight-year, $67 million contract extension.

Baz has yet to pitch in a regular-season game for the Orioles. He’s scheduled to make his team debut Sunday at Camden Yards.

Baltimore acquired the 26-year-old in a trade with Tampa Bay this offseason, sending four prospects and a draft pick to the Rays for Baz. The players sent to the Rays for Baz were catcher Caden Bodine, right-hander Michael Forret, outfielders Slater de Brun and Austin Overn, and a 2026 Competitive Balance Round A pick. Forret was one of Baltimore’s top pitching prospects, while Bodine and de Brun were first-round picks in 2025.

In extending Baz, the Orioles increase the value of the pitcher they acquired — one they’ve expressed fervent praise for since trading for him. Baz was previously under contract through the arbitration system through the 2028 season. With this new deal, he will hit free agency before his age-32 campaign — another prime opportunity for him to receive a large payday.

“We were ecstatic to acquire a pitcher of Shane’s talent during the offseason and are thrilled we could come to a long-term agreement to keep him in Baltimore,” Elias said in a statement. “Our ownership group, led by David Rubenstein, continues to provide our organization with support and resources as we pursue consistent success on the field.”

Baz, whose fastball can reach 100 mph, entered the 2022 season as the No. 12 prospect in baseball, according to MLB Pipeline. His fastball was given an 80 grade — the highest rating on the scouting scale. But elbow issues caused a slow start to his big league career in Tampa Bay, and he underwent Tommy John reconstruction surgery in September 2022.

After missing all of 2023, Baz returned from surgery in 2024 and impressed with a 3.06 ERA in 14 starts. He took the next step last year, pitching a full season, starting 31 games and accumulating 166 1/3 innings. He posted a 4.87 ERA, though his underlying metrics were impressive. One factor was pitching his home games at George M. Steinbrenner Field, a hitter-friendly minor league park. He recorded a 5.90 ERA at home and a 3.86 ERA on the road last year.

The Orioles have raved about Baz since trading for him. Elias’ stated goal this offseason was to acquire a frontline starting pitcher, and it appears he didn’t achieve that after losing out on free agents Ranger Suárez and Framber Valdez. But after the trade for Baz, Elias described him as a future headline starting pitcher.

“He’s got great underlying metrics, five-plus pitches, I think he’s got a great arm and he’s a great athlete,” Elias said. “He hasn’t fully tapped into his ceiling yet, so we see him as a front-end of the rotation starter. I think he has a ceiling to tap into being a top-of-the-rotation starter. We’re not necessarily asking that of him in 2026, but he has that potential. He has one of the best starting pitcher arms in the major leagues, and he’s got really elite stuff.”

Manager Craig Albernaz was asked before spring training what Baz’s upside is this season.

“Shane Baz’s upside is a Cy Young Award winner,” the first-year skipper said.

Only four players in Orioles history have signed a contract larger than $68 million: Chris Davis (seven years, $161 million), Pete Alonso (five years, $155 million), Adam Jones (six years, $85.5 million) and Miguel Tejada (six years, $72 million). Before Baz’s extension, which was first reported by ESPN, the largest contract given to a pitcher was the four-year, $57 million deal for right-hander Alex Cobb in 2018. Three of the seven largest contracts in Orioles history have been executed in the past seven months: Basallo, Alonso and Baz.

Baz is opening this season as Baltimore’s No. 3 starter in a rotation that, while not near the top in the American League East, is the best that Elias has ever built, as evidenced by the decision to option reliable starter Dean Kremer to Triple-A. Baz is the only member of the Orioles’ rotation who has never received a Cy Young Award vote.

Trevor Rogers pitched seven scoreless innings on opening day, and Kyle Bradish is taking the ball Saturday. After Baz on Sunday, veteran Chris Bassitt, whom the Orioles signed for $18.5 million in February, will start Monday and Zach Eflin will round out the rotation Tuesday.

Baz’s first start Sunday is an afternoon game, making it possible that Adley Rutschman will get a breather from catching. That means Baz and Basallo, the club’s two extension investments, could be the first of many games between the batterymates over the next five years.

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