The Baltimore Orioles and Los Angeles Angels pulled off the first major trade of the offseason on Tuesday, as the Orioles sent starting right-hander Grayson Rodriguez to the Angels in exchange for outfielder Taylor Ward.
Rodriguez, who turned 26 on Sunday, did not pitch in the 2025 season. He started the campaign on the injured list with right elbow inflammation, attempted a return, but a mid-April side session was canceled due to shoulder soreness. On April 23, he was diagnosed with a right lat strain and, five days later, he was placed on the 60-day IL.
Rodriguez underwent season-ending elbow debridement surgery in August, ending his campaign.
Ward, who will be 32 in December, played in a career-high 157 games for the Angels in 2025, also setting career marks in home runs (36, tied for fifth in AL), RBIs (103, sixth in AL) and walks (75, seventh in AL).
During the second half of the 2023 campaign and the first four months of the 2024 season, Rodriguez appeared to shake off the injury bug and become the ace the Orioles had been touting. In 2024, he posted a 13-4 record and 3.86 ERA, fanning 130 batters in 116 2/3 innings through July. But he was scratched from a start on Aug. 6 in Toronto after feeling discomfort in his right lat while warming up in the bullpen.
He made another trip to the injured list and was shut down for the remainder of the season.
A first-round draft pick (11th overall) in 2018, Rodriguez has a career mark of 20-8 with a 4.11 ERA in 43 games. The native of Nacogdoches, Texas, has 259 strikeouts and 78 walks in 238 2/3 innings.
Ward played in a total of 159 games for the Angels from 2018-21 before making the big club for good in 2022. He owns a career slash line of .247/.327/.439 in 704 career games and crossed the 100-home run plateau in 2025 (113).
Like Rodriguez, the Dayton, Ohio native was a first-round selection. The Angels selected him 26th overall in 2015, after he played for three seasons at Fresno State. Ward played catcher and third base in the minor leagues before moving to the outfield in 2019.
–Field Level Media
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