The veteran left-hander was once again one of the Orioles best back-end relievers, but missed more than half the season due to an elbow injury.
After emerging as a surprise staple of the 2023 bullpen, Danny Coulombe came into the 2024 season with the expectation of delivering big innings for a Baltimore bullpen in flux. While the veteran lefty arguably had a better year when he was on the mound, an elbow injury caused him to miss a large chunk of the 2024 season.
Coulombe came into this past season no longer a wild card in the Orioles’ relief corps. After the O’s acquired him a couple days before the 2023 season started, Coulombe established himself as the top left-handed relief option in the bullpen of last year’s AL East champions. With All-Star closer Félix Bautista out for all of 2024, Coulombe was one of the names tipped to take a bigger role at the back end of games.
The 34-year-old southpaw started off hot in his second season in black and orange, opening the season with five straight scoreless appearances and eight Ks in 5 IP. Coulombe then hit one of his few rough patches of the season, giving up runs in three of the next four appearances, including a blown save in an early April game in Fenway.
That would prove to be a just a blip for the veteran reliever pitching in his 10th year in the big leagues. Over his next 11 outings, Coulombe only allowed one run as he held opponents to a .161 and only allowing three extra-base hits.
Seven of those 11 appearance game in the eighth inning or later as to Coulombe formed an integral part of the bridge to closer Craig Kimbrel early on. Overall, when the veteran from Texas Tech entered the game, it usually meant good things for the Orioles. During Baltimore’s first 50 games of the season, the O’s were 18-5 when Coulombe made an appearance.
Through the first two months of the season, Coulombe boasted a 2.91 ERA and .160 average against. Along with the likes of Yennier Cano and Jacob Webb, the left-hander was one of the Orioles most trusted set up men, racking up 21.2 IP across 26 appearances in April and May. In a Baltimore bullpen that hovered around mediocre for the first two months of the year (13th in bullpen ERA through the end of May), Coulombe continued to shine in his role.
Disaster would strike for this key cog in the Orioles’ pen come the beginning of June. Three days after throwing his longest outing of the season—a two-inning relief appearance against the Rays that included striking out the side in the eighth—Coulombe went on the IL with left elbow inflammation. That inflammation turned out to be a symptom of something more serious, as Coulombe had to have surgery to remove bone spurs from his pitching elbow.
Immediately, the reports surrounding the reliever where about if, not when, he’d be back, with Jake Rill of MLB.com reporting that he “[might] return in September.” To say Baltimore’s bullpen struggled in his absence would be an understatement.
Coulombe made his last appearance before going on the IL on June 8, and eventually returned September 20. From June 9 to September 19t the O’s bullpen had a 4.68 ERA, making them as the sixth-worst bullpen in baseball for that stretch.
The domino effect that cast the Orioles bullpen from mediocrity to liability had a big impact on the Orioles record as well. When Coulombe went down, the Orioles were 41-22 and 2.5 games back in the AL East. When he returned—after missing 90 games—the Orioles were 85-68 and four games back from the Yankees.
The left-hander was his usually excellent self in his four regular season appearances after coming off the IL. Against the Tigers, Yankees and Twins, Coulombe put up four scoreless appearances, racking up four Ks in 3.2 IP. Coulombe would make one appearance in the postseason as well, getting the final two outs of the fifth inning in the Orioles’ Game 2 loss to the Royals.
Despite losing most of the season to injury, almost all metrics say Coulombe pitched better in 2024 than in his debut campaign with Baltimore. He lowered his ERA from 2.81 to 2.12, while maintaining an excellent 2.83 FIP. While he was hit a little harder in 2024, he also produced his best ground ball rate since 2018 and his lowest fly ball rate since 2017. All of this came while increasing his K% and posting the best BB/9 rate of his career.
This success can be partially attributed to a change in Coulombe’s pitch mix. After relying heavily on his cutter and mixing up his secondary offerings in 2023, the lefty was primarily a cutter-sweeper pitcher in 2024. The sweeper was by far Coulombe’s best pitch, as opponents didn’t get a hit off of it all year and swung through the breaking ball 43% of the time.
Whether Coulombe can be a big factor in the Orioles bullpen again will largely come down to whether the O’s bring him back in 2025. Baltimore has a $4M club option that they have to pick up before today’s deadline, or else the lefty hits the free agent market. With Gregory Soto. Keegan Akin and Cionel Pérez still under team control for 2025, it’s no guarantee that Coulombe comes back. If the O’s do pick up his option, however, expect to resume his role as Baltimore’s best high-leverage left-hander.
Previous 2024 player reviews: Keegan Akin, Cionel Pérez, Cole Irvin, Ryan O’Hearn, Craig Kimbrel, Cade Povich, midseason position player acquisitions, Jackson Holliday, injured starting pitchers, James McCann, midseason pitching acquisitions, Jorge Mateo, Yennier Cano, Dean Kremer, Albert Suárez, Ryan Mountcastle, Anthony Santander, Jacob Webb, Grayson Rodriguez, Ramón Urías
Tomorrow: Adley Rutschman