There’s only one player from the 2025 Orioles who’s still competing for a World Series title and his name is Seranthony Domínguez. Of the players trade away in the 2025 fire sale, the former O’s closer
is the one who’s found the most success while netting the Orioles an interesting prospect in return.
The flame-throwing righty was one of four Orioles relievers dealt at this year’s trade deadline, and of those four, arguably had the highest highs while in Baltimore. After coming over from the Phillies at the 2024 trade deadline, Domínguez assumed the closer role down the stretch after the release of Craig Kimbrel.
Through his first 15 appearances in black and orange, Seranthony was the shot in the arm the Baltimore bullpen needed. Over 14 innings, he pitched to a 2.57 ERA, struck out 17 batters and picked up six saves. Sure, he had somewhat of a home run problem (at one point, he allowed solo homers in three straight outings) but was an overall positive for the Orioles’ pen.
His close to 2024 was less promising. In his last 10 regular-season appearances, his ERA ballooned to 6.23, walks and home runs were standout issues and he lost his role as the O’s closer. Domínguez did have two scoreless appearances in the Orioles’ two playoff losses, but just like the rest of the 2024 Orioles, his overall individual performance left something to be desired.
That roller coaster nature carried over into the start of the 2025 season. Domínguez started the year with nine straight scoreless appearances, punching out 10 in 8.1 innings while allowing only two hits. After finally allowing his first earned runs on April 26th, the 30-year-old righty seemingly lost his feel for pitching. From April 26th through the end of May, Domínguez made 14 appearances while allowing 12 runs (8.31 ERA) and 14 hits as opposing hitters teed off on his high-octane fastball.
When the calendar flipped to June, a switch flipped in Domínguez and he once again became one the Orioles’ most reliable relievers. From June 1st until he was traded on July 29th, the seventh-year MLB vet made 20 appearances, pitched 20.1 innings, racked up 28 strikeouts and held opponents to a .211 and 1.33 ERA.
The big adjustment that changed the trajectory of Domínguez’s season was a heavier reliance on his newly developed splitter. The righty ditched his changeup for the split-finger fastball before the 2025 season, but seemed hesitant to rely on the new pitch early. In April, he only threw six total splitters (less than 4% of his pitches). That usage rate jumped up to 11.3% in May, but really exploded as the season headed into the summer months. Across June and July, the splitter became his go-to secondary pitch, as the usage jumped above 27% while opponents struggled to a .107 average against the off-speed offering.
The reinvented Domínguez earned himself one of the oddest trades of July just days before the deadline. With the Blue Jays in town for a doubleheader, Domínguez found himself in the Orioles’ bullpen for the first game and pitching against the Orioles in the second game.
Beyond the weird circumstances that come with being traded to the opposing team in the middle of a doubleheader, the Domínguez trade saw the Orioles get one of their best returns of the fire sale. It was a one-for-one swap, with 23-year-old RHP prospect Juaron Watts-Brown heading to the Orioles in return. The former 3rd-round pick from the 2023 draft has one of the best sliders in minor league baseball and gives the O’s a potential MLB starter with four above-average pitches.
Watts-Brown was dominant in seven appearances with the Baysox after the trade, holding opponents to a .159 average while posting a 0.91 WHIP and punching out 43 batters over 35.1 innings. In MLB.com’s end-of-season prospect rankings, Watts-Brown checked in as Baltimore’s No.13 prospect and the second-highest rated prospect of the players acquired at the 2025 deadline. He’ll be competing with players like Michael Forret, Trey Gibson and Nestor German to be the first pitching prospect to debut in 2026.
Since joining Toronto, Domínguez has been a more reliable piece for the AL champions as a setup man for closer Jeff Hoffman. In 24 regular-season appearances for the Jays, Seranthony struck out 25 in 21 innings while posting a 3.00 ERA and .169 average against. Importantly, he only allowed one HR in the regular season for Toronto, cutting his HR/9 rate from 0.9 with the Orioles to 0.4 with the Blue Jays.
He’s been similarly solid for the Jays in their run to being one game away from a World Series title, with a 3.60 ERA in 10 appearances. He has allowed two inopportune home runs for Toronto in October. He gave up a grand slam to Eugenio Suarez in the Jays’ 6-2 loss in Game 5 of the ALCS, and the game-tying home run to Shohei Ohtani that led to the Dodgers’ win in the World Series’ 18-inning marathon. The latter of those two homers led Orioles legend Jim Palmer to fire off the following tweet:
Domínguez will not be remembered as anything other than another volatile reliever in the Orioles’ pen. And yet, he still stands to be the first player to be an Oriole and win a championship in the same season since Trey Mancini in 2022. Or, if we’re lucky, he’ll be remembered as the player traded to acquire future Orioles star, Juaron Watts-Brown.
