When Shane Baz began working out at Dynamic Sports Training in Houston, he had the machismo of a teenager eager to prove himself. He lifted this, he threw that, he powered his way through sets just to prove he could do so.

Almost a decade later, Baz’s strength coach, Hayden Letts, still sees the “freaky athlete” come out in Baz during training sessions. But Letts sees something else in the 26-year-old — something hard-earned through years of maturation and a major setback.

“He’s definitely gotten a lot more in tune with his body,” said Letts, who began working with Baz between 2018 and 2020. They reunited after the 2024 season, when Baz had just returned from Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery.

“He knows what he needs,” Letts continued. “He knows what he doesn’t need and he knows what bothers him. He has a more refined approach.”

The refined approach has allowed Baz to reach levels he couldn’t before surgery. The former first-round pick could always hurl a high-velocity fastball, but in 2025, Baz’s smooth, repeatable mechanics allowed him to surpass 100 mph for the first time in his major league career. And his work away from the field allowed him to maintain that velocity through 166 1/3 innings, the most he has thrown in a season.

When the Orioles traded for Baz, president of baseball operations Mike Elias didn’t attempt to spin the acquisition as the ace Baltimore has needed for years. But given the pre-surgery and post-surgery difference in Baz — an electric phenom who is morphing into more of a workhorse capable of consistency — the Orioles believe in Baz’s ability to reach the next level.

Elias projects Baz becoming “a top-of-the-rotation starter” in the near future. “We kind of think he’s ready to go,” Elias said, “and [we’re] kind of expecting we’re gonna get the best chunk of his career here coming up.”

What will allow Baz to realize the potential that was so apparent as a high schooler in Texas is the recalibration of his own process. Baz could dazzle on his best days. He could also slip up and struggle to regain his footing during an appearance.

But being sidelined from the sport he loves made Baz reorganize his entire mentality, and the Orioles will benefit from the right-hander’s polished practice.

“I think his time on the IL and coming back from that has really shaped his work ethic and just realizing that this can be taken away at any time,” said Brian Reith, a minor league pitching coach for the Rays who first worked with Baz in 2019 with the Single-A Bowling Green Hot Rods.

Baz burst onto the scene late in 2021, making three regular season starts for Tampa Bay. His elbow injury prevented him from building on that success, and he didn’t pitch for all of 2023. In 2024 and 2025, however, Baz showed more nuance to his approach than just throwing hard stuff around in a gym.

He learned “what he needs to do with his body in the offseason as well as during the season to be able to handle the rigors of being a starting pitcher in the big leagues,” Reith said. Because managing one’s body to handle 30-plus starts a season is a year-round effort.

That starts with his legs. Yes, it takes plenty of arm strength to sling a ball at triple-digit velocity, but Baz’s right leg begins those efforts. With Letts at the Dynamic Sports Training facility in Texas, running and jumping is as much part of Baz’s workouts as lifting and throwing.

That is when Baz’s athleticism most stands out, Letts said, and it’s why Baz’s velocity reached new heights last season.

“He’s keeping up with our fastest position players on all of our sprinting stuff. He’s one of our top performers when we do vertical jumping,” Letts said. “As a pitcher, you think he won’t jump as high or run as fast as a position player, but he’s beaten a lot of guys. I think that’s a big thing for him, in terms of being able to maintain that velocity.”

Baz hit 100 mph for the first time in his major league career last year, and did so 10 times. The 27 fastest pitches of his career all came in 2025. Baz said he managed that gain because of an improved routine between starts and throughout the winter.

“I think a big thing of it was just kind of figuring out post-surgery and all of that stuff, just a routine that I really liked in between my starts of how much I like to throw, how far I want to throw, and then, what I wanted to do in my midweek bullpen,” Baz said. “Also just figuring out the workout side of it — which days I need to focus more on mobility and a little bit less lifting, and vice versa. And I think I just did a good job of kind of learning what my body responds better to and what I like to do that really helps me be ready for that fifth day 32 times.”

When Baz arrived in the majors in 2021, his three regular season starts caught the attention of baseball. He struck out 18 batters and walked three in 13 1/3 innings. Reith, who was at Tropicana Field for Baz’s first taste of the big leagues, said those first outings will always stand out in his mind when thinking about Baz.

But what encouraged Reith more was how Baz carried himself in 2025, even with elevated numbers. Baz finished the season with a 4.87 ERA, but he was healthy throughout and proved he could be counted on to take the mound every turn in the rotation.

“That’s a really good sign,” Reith said, “and I think it’s going to be really good for him in the upcoming years as well.”

Baz agreed. He said producing a full season was his “biggest goal going into last year.”

“You can’t succeed unless you’re on the field and healthy,” Baz said. “It’s everything. It gives you the chance to learn. It gives you the chance to fail a little bit and just makes you realize how you can get better as a pitcher.”

Baz has grown through experience — when on the mound and when injured, equally. For instance, when Reith first worked with Baz in Single-A, the pitching instructor cut Baz’s curveball temporarily from his arsenal because Baz couldn’t locate it for a strike.

Now, Reith thinks the curveball is likely Baz’s best pitch, especially when paired with his four-seam fastball.

That all comes with experience, and even at 26, Baz has experienced the ups and downs of major league life. He has been the hot prospect. He has been shelved through injury. And with the Orioles, Baz has an opportunity to be something else: a rotation stabilizer for a club with postseason aspirations.

In that way, Baz and Baltimore have plenty in common. For player and for club, it’s time for potential to become reality.

“He loves the big matchups,” Reith said. “I think learning how to use that and maybe spread it out a little more over every start was part of his maturation process as well. He loves the big lights, the bright lights, and he’s a guy I’d love to have on the mound for that situation.”