The team-building thought process of Mike Elias is rarely any harder to fathom than when he is adding random relievers into the roster mix. Another one of these relievers was plucked out of the Orioles system and onto the 40-man roster ahead of the Rule 5 draft protection deadline last November: 27-year-old right-hander Kade Strowd.
Strowd arrived in the Orioles organization in the 2019 draft, the first one where Elias was at the helm of the front office. The O’s selected him in the 12th round from West Virginia University, where the righty had mostly been a starting pitcher.