SARASOTA – Heston Kjerstad hit another home run today in live batting practice and had a huge smile on his face after returning to his locker.

New stride, fresh outlook on his professional life.

Kjerstad tattooed a pitch from Levi Wells, the No. 14 prospect in the system per Baseball America, for his second homer in a week. He didn’t play last season after the Orioles shut him down in July, at Triple-A Norfolk, with a condition they described only as “fatigue.”

“Back to full health, feeling great,” he said. “Excited to be here. Got a great team rolling in this year. Really pumped to be healthy and see what I can do this season.

“Probably took me first part of the offseason to kind of build back some strength and do some things like that to get back to where I wanted to be. But right now thankfully, in a great spot right now. Full healthy, ready to roll.”

Kjerstad isn’t ready to talk about the latest setback, which came after his 2020 diagnosis of the heart condition myocarditis, a hamstring injury and concussion – all of which have damaged the career of the second-overall draft pick.

“At this time probably not gonna share too much, kind of like the team’s already said, but in the future that’s something we’ll definitely get into to cover the whole topic and all that,” he said.

Kjerstad sent a chopper over the protective screen in an earlier at-bat against No. 3 prospect Trey Gibson, with the ball striking a camera and sending a piece of it flying onto the infield grass. He smoked a grounder past the screen and into the outfield while facing Wells.

“I feel pretty good,” he said. “It’s early, it’s lives on the back field, but taking live ABs, they’ve been really good for me. Feel good with timing. Made a couple swing adjustments, been working on it, but still early. Hope to build on those early ABs and see what I can do.”

Kjerstad traveled to Stillwater, Oklahoma and worked out with teammate Jackson Holliday, his father Matt and younger brother Ethan. The load is different, with Kjerstad finding a move that gets him in the same spot as his old leg kick and also feels the same timing-wise.

Offseason training led to this new approach. Hitting, doing drills. It naturally just fell into place.

“Little smaller stride, kind of drag it closed,” he said. “It felt good. That was something I was working on this offseason, kind of developed into that, and we’ll see where it leads. I still have the leg kick still. Always liked it. But there’s always a time for change, especially if it make you a better hitter. That’s all I’m trying to do.

“Started with drill work, the kind of drill I was doing. And then just slowly built upon it, and still building on it in these lives, and it just felt like I was more consistently on time with barrels. Kind of get my foot down a little bit quicker, see the ball a little longer. Hopefully be able to recognize pitches and make better swing decisions with it, too.”

Kjerstad is entering a crucial season at age 27 and with one minor league option remaining. He’s hit .218 with a .649 OPS in 106 games, never playing in more than 54. He broke camp with the team last spring but couldn’t stay.

“I think it’s really important because the year you have in front of you, that’s always the most important and what you want to focus on,” he said. “It should be a good year for me. Healthy, and we’ll see what happens.”

Wells and Gibson each had three ups today. Gibson struck out Samuel Basallo, but the young catcher got his revenge in his next at-bat with a rope double to the base of the left-center field fence.

* Manager Craig Albernaz only had time to shake new reliever Jackson Kowar’s hand today before heading out to the field. Kowar was busy taking his physical and getting acclimated after the Orioles acquired him from the Twins yesterday in a cash deal.

Kowar, 29, was a first-round pick by the Royals in the 2018 draft out of the University of Florida. He appeared in 15 games with the Mariners last season and allowed eight runs in 17 innings.

“It’s another guy that’s not short, so it fits the mold here of big dudes,” Albernaz said. “I’ve seen him when I was in Cleveland. He throws strikes, he has elite stuff and he has a really good changeup. We want him to get settled first before we start throwing stuff at him.”

The Twins selected Kowar on waivers earlier this month and designated him for assignment Thursday after acquiring left-hander Anthony Banda from the Dodgers. The Orioles are known for their roster churn, which could have Kowar packing his bags again.

“It’s definitely been kind of a crazy couple of weeks here, but certainly feel like I’m really ready to compete,” Kowar said. “I’m out of options, so this spring was all about trying to win a job. So for me it doesn’t really matter where I’m at. I’m really happy to be here. I think hopefully a place I can stay for more than a couple days, but I think at this point in my career I’m ready to compete and win a job, and so my goal this spring no matter where I was at was to come in ready, and I feel like I’m in really good shape and ready to win a job.”

Kowar hasn’t gotten around to perusing the competition for bullpen jobs. He’ll eventually do it.

“To me, it’s less about that. It’s more about pitching as well as I can and doing the best I can,” he said. “I really haven’t even had a chance to look at who’s on the roster, what the bullpen looks like. Everywhere you go, there’s a bunch of talented guys and that’s the game now. There’s no clubhouse you’re gonna walk in that doesn’t have a bunch of talented guys.”

Kowar has registered an 8.21 ERA and 1.934 WHIP in 54 major league games, including 39 with the Royals over parts of three seasons. He’s averaged 5.7 walks per nine innings.

Tommy John surgery kept Kowar from pitching in 2024.

“It’s tough,” he said. “I really enjoyed my time in Seattle. I think I learned a lot from those guys. They do a really nice job with the pitching. Wish I would have been healthier. I think that’s been my main focus coming into this spring is being healthy and being ready to make 60-65 appearances in a season. That’s my goal.

“So really happy with how much I kind of learned in Seattle. I feel like I really changed who I am as a pitcher. I’m ready to make a big contribution on a winning team in the big leagues.”

Asked to elaborate on his transformation, Kowar said, “I think before I was just a little too worried about the wrong things and wasn’t nearly aggressive enough in the zone, going right after guys, being confident throwing a ton of strikes. So that’s kind of my goal is, I want to be in the zone, I want to induce swings, I want to be aggressive, and I want to let my stuff play. Less worried about trying to nit-pick, make the perfect pitch all the time and be on the attack, being more aggressive and just trying to fill it up and be in the zone.”

* Albernaz served as the Guardians’ associate manager in 2025 when three-time All-Star closer Emmanuel Clase was placed on non-disciplinary paid leave in July, while Major League Baseball began an investigation into a sports betting scheme that involved rigging pitches.

Clase placed third in Cy Young and 11th in Most Valuable Player voting in 2023 after posting a 0.61 ERA and 0.659 WHIP with 47 saves in 74 games. He’s led the majors in saves three times and twice won Reliever of the Year awards.

He was one of the game’s stars, barreling toward the Hall of Fame. The news of his suspension was stunning.  

Teammate Jose Ortiz also was put on leave, and the pair was charged in November with fraud, conspiracy and bribery. The scheme to rig individual pitches led to gamblers winning hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to an indictment.

The Guardians rallied to make the playoffs, earning Stephen Vogt back-to-back Manager of the Year awards. Clase didn’t destroy their season, but the damage to his career and reputation are irreparable.

“I was shocked as anyone else, and our whole clubhouse, too,” Albernaz said. “It was a blow to the clubhouse in the sense of, yes, he’s a really good pitcher that helped us win a lot of games, but then also, he’s one of your boys, right? You’re in it together, and to have something like that happen, yeah, I was just as shocked as anyone.

“But to the clubhouse’s credit in Cleveland, they didn’t miss a beat. It’s a testament to Vogty’s leadership and the rest of the guys in there with José (Ramírez), (Steven) Kwan and Austin Hedges, their leadership, to kind of keep the clubhouse together. But yeah, I was just as shocked as everyone else.”

A court document filed earlier this month accused Clase of throwing pitches to benefit bettors in at least 48 games over two seasons.

The subject of gambling in sports will be addressed by the Orioles as well as MLB, which has programs that lay out its rules. Players in camp will be educated again on the topic.

“Major League Baseball does a great job of coming in and talking to the group,” Albernaz said. “They do it every year. They do a great job. And just like anything in this game, there’s always gonna be like outliers. I’m not saying this ongoing investigation with Clase, but just in general. But with MLB, they do a great job of communicating not doing it, the repercussion of it. We’re just gonna double down on what MLB says and piggyback off their lead of not doing it and making sure that they’re very cognizant of the people they interact with.”

* Shortstop Gunnar Henderson returned to camp today and took ground balls on the stadium field while teammates worked out on the back fields. Four coaches were involved in Henderson’s session that lasted about 45 minutes.

* Right-hander Nestor German, ranked by Baseball America as the No. 13 prospect in the system, was overshadowed yesterday by Trevor Rogers’ dominant performance in live batting practice. Though German didn’t strike out seven of 10 batters to duplicate Rogers’ feat, he made a positive impression.

German struck out Adley Rutschman and Colton Cowser. The hitters’ feedback was similar to how they reacted to Rogers.

“It was gross,” Albernaz said. “It’s like, ‘Oh, it’s another guy that throws hard and has elite stuff.’ That was impressive, as well. Especially a guy coming in, you’re following Trevor Rogers, you might want to try to do more when you’re facing those hitters, but to his credit and to our pitching group’s credit, he stayed within himself and he was attacking the strike zone and he has elite stuff.

“That’s the biggest thing with all of our guys. We want them to trust their stuff. They work so hard in the offseason of honing their arsenal and their shapes. We want them to trust it when they go out there, and Nestor was a great example of that.”

* Yennier Cano retired his six batters, striking out four, including Colton Cowser twice. Kjerstad and Basallo grounded out.

Cano seems likely to make the club, but he was sent down last year and still has options. He posted a 5.12 ERA and 1.483 WHIP in 65 games, two years after his selection to the All-Star team, but most troublesome again are his splits against right-handed and left-handed hitters.

Left-handers slashed .330/.410/.538 in 107 plate appearances, compared to .252/.324/.339 in 144 plate appearances by right-handers. Over his career, Cano has held right-handers to a .230 average and .627 OPS, but left-handers have hit .302 with an .855 OPS.

“For me, it’s solving against lefties,” Albernaz said. “He’s a nightmare against righties and it’s the oppositive handness has given him fits, especially last year. So it’s problem-solving that, and he’s making strides.

“Yesterday with the lefties that he faced, he did pretty good, so I think it’s just doubling down on that and his work. He has elite stuff. I think everyone has seen it, so it’s just doubling down on what we can do to neutralize lefties.”