Yennier Cano was an All-Star in 2023. Patrick Smith / Getty ImagesJuly 31, 2026 Updated 5:48 pm EDTAmid a standout season, right-hander Yennier Cano signed a two-year extension with a club option for 2029 with the Baltimore Orioles, the team announced on Friday.If there was any thought of the Orioles making Cano one of the top relievers available on the trade market, that’s likely out the window now. Cano was already under team control through the 2028 season, as he would have been arbitration-eligible the next two winters. Now, he’ll have a contract in place that gives Baltimore the chance to keep him around through 2029, Cano’s age-35 season. Cano is one of four pitchers in the league with 250 appearances and a sub-3.50 ERA since the start of the 2023 season.“Yennier has been outstanding for us both on and off the field since his arrival in 2022,” Orioles president of baseball operations Mike Elias said in a team-issued press release. “He has blossomed into one of the game’s most reliable and consistent relief pitchers. We are proud of all the hard work he has put in alongside our development team and are pleased he and his family will remain in Baltimore.”
Cano, a surprising All-Star with the Orioles in 2023, has rediscovered much of his effectiveness from that season. The sinkerballing setup man sits near the top of the league in ground-ball rate. He has a 2.21 ERA and has allowed just one home run in 36 2/3 innings this season.Cano, 32, has traveled an uncommon path to prominence. He left his native Cuba for Argentina in 2018, relocated to the Dominican Republic and signed with the Minnesota Twins for $750,000 in 2019. His big-league debut did not come until 2022, a couple of months before he was traded to the Orioles.His breakout the following season established him as a known commodity. Cano finished with a 2.11 ERA and did not allow an earned run in the first 17 of his 72 appearances. He was less effective in 2024 and roughly replacement-level in 2025, when he struggled to the tune of a 5.12 ERA and was briefly optioned to Triple A.
