BALTIMORE -- Two longtime Orioles players are becoming free agents for the first time.
First baseman Ryan Mountcastle's 2027 team option worth $7.5 million is being declined, per a source, while outfielder Heston Kjerstad has cleared outright waivers and is entering free agency, according to another source. The club has not confirmed either transaction.
Mountcastle, 29, was selected by Baltimore with the No. 36 overall pick in the 2015 MLB Draft and has spent his entire seven-year big league career with the O’s. The veteran hit .263 with 126 doubles, 98 home runs, 364 RBIs and a .750 OPS over 660 games with the O's.
However, it was becoming increasingly obvious that Mountcastle was no longer a fit on the roster, while he has also been plagued by injuries in recent years.
Mountcastle played 97 games for Baltimore over the past two seasons, including only eight in 2026, when he was sidelined for the majority of the year by a left foot fracture and a left oblique strain and didn’t appear in a game after April 11. He went 4-for-14 (.286) with one double and one RBI.
It would have been challenging for the O’s to find playing time for Mountcastle, though. After Pete Alonso signed a five-year, $155 million deal last December, the Orioles entered 2026 with three right-handed-hitting first basemen on their roster in Alonso, Mountcastle and Coby Mayo.
Mayo moved back to third base (his position coming up through the Minors) once Jordan Westburg sustained a right elbow injury that eventually led to season-ending Tommy John surgery. But with Alonso serving as the everyday first baseman -- and the designated hitter spot often being filled by either Samuel Basallo or Adley Rutschman early in the season -- Mountcastle didn’t have a natural fit.
If Mountcastle can stay healthy, perhaps he could return to form in 2027, though it seems likely that opportunity will come with another team.
Kjerstad, 27, was Baltimore’s first-round Draft pick in 2020, taken with the No. 2 overall pick. He is a former top prospect who mashed his way through the O’s farm system earlier this decade.
But Kjerstad has struggled to stick in the big leagues, while also dealing with several injuries. The left-handed-hitting outfielder is a career .217 hitter with nine doubles, 10 home runs, 38 RBIs and a .639 OPS in 117 games over four big league seasons.
After missing the final two months of the 2025 campaign due to an undisclosed medical condition, Kjerstad opened ‘26 on the IL due to a right hamstring strain, then got optioned to Triple-A Norfolk. He played 11 games for the Orioles this past season, going 4-for-19 (.211) with one double and two RBIs.