The Orioles received positive injury updates for two key pitchers, right-handers Grayson Rodriguez and Jacob Webb, and expect both to return before the end of the regular season.
Rodriguez has a mild teres major shoulder strain and will be shut down from throwing activities for at least 10 days. After three weeks, the Orioles will reimage the lat and teres major areas of his back and shoulder to assess how the muscles are recovering. Overall, executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias said, it’s good news.
“We’re hopeful we can get him back up and running before the end of the regular season and position him and us for playoff baseball,” Elias said Saturday. “Obviously, he would be an enormous part of it for us. That’s where things are with Grayson. We won’t have a real definitive timeline until later, but we’re optimistic at this point that we have a good chance to get him back before the end of September.”
Webb’s elbow is “barking,” Elias said, but he doesn’t have structural damage.
“Hopeful at this point that it’s just kind of a two-week blow and a short IL stint,” Elias said, “but, obviously, you never know. Pretty good news on him overall.”
Webb experienced elbow soreness during a throwing program in Toronto, and after he alerted training staff, the Orioles sent him back to Baltimore for further evaluation.
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Rodriguez scratched himself from his start Tuesday in Toronto when he felt discomfort in his lat and teres. He landed on the injured list shortly after with what manager Brandon Hyde called a minor lat strain. Elias said, after further analysis, the strain is more in his shoulder than his lat.
He has experienced this sort of injury before. In 2022, as he neared a major league debut, a lat strain held Rodriguez out for three months. But Elias said this strain is “much less severe than the one he had in 2022, in a similar region.”
Rodriguez was placed on the injured list earlier in the season with right shoulder inflammation. Elias said this latest issue is different.
“I think he’s starting to feel better already, so that’s a good sign,” Hyde said. “That was a pretty mature move by him, honestly, knowing something didn’t feel right and let us know right away. It was a scramble once he let us know, but definitely did the right thing.”
Rodriguez has been one of Baltimore’s most important pitchers. His 3.86 ERA and 1.243 WHIP exemplified his growth in his second season as a big leaguer, and Rodriguez slotted in as the No. 2 starter behind right-hander Corbin Burnes. With Rodriguez sidelined, the Orioles will lean more on Zach Eflin and Trevor Rogers — two trade deadline acquisitions.
“We’re testing it the hard way,” Elias said of Baltimore’s rotation depth. He pointed to left-handers Cade Povich and Cole Irvin at Triple-A Norfolk as depth options, along with right-hander Brandon Young. Povich and Irvin have debuted; Young hasn’t but has a 3.71 ERA in 53 1/3 innings for the Tides.
“I think that we do [have the depth], but the way this is going, I can’t make that proclamation with any confidence because anything can happen,” Elias said. “Getting two starting pitchers at the trade deadline was big, and it would be kind of scary to picture — I mean, we not only traded for those guys at the deadline, but we traded for Corbin over the winter. Without those trades, it would be really, really scary to picture where we are right now, for sure, but that’s all part of it. We’ve got to keep the pitching coming, and it takes multiple moves over a long period of time to keep a full rotation.”
Webb leads the team in relief appearances with 53, holding a 3.08 ERA in 49 2/3 innings. He has been a valuable piece of the bullpen because he’s effective against both right-handed and left-handed batters. He was far above average. Webb has a 125 ERA+ — a measure in which 100 is league average.
The Orioles also expect left-hander Danny Coulombe to return in late September after midseason surgery to remove bone chips from his elbow. But right-hander Félix Bautista, Baltimore’s closer who underwent Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery last year, was ruled out for the 2024 season. There was a slim chance Bautista would have returned for the postseason, but the Orioles will focus on having him for 2025, beginning in spring training.
The timeline for right-hander Chayce McDermott is murky. He was placed on the Triple-A Norfolk injured list with a scapula stress reaction in his right shoulder. Elias said “he’s going to be down for a while” but added that “it may be a close call with the end of the regular season.”
“Hopefully we can get at least some of these guys back,” Hyde said, “and help us down the stretch.”
Outfielder Heston Kjerstad is still experiencing mild concussion symptoms after he was hit in the head by a pitch last month. Kjerstad was placed on the concussion injured list but returned, then struggled at the plate and was optioned. The Orioles placed him on the concussion list again — which voids the option to the minors — when Kjerstad said he was experiencing issues again.
Elias didn’t know whether Kjerstad had experienced those mild symptoms upon his return, but as soon as he notified the club, Baltimore and an independent doctor for Major League Baseball evaluated Kjerstad.
“It’s very mild, but obviously we take that really seriously once somebody says that they’re experiencing concussion symptoms again,” Elias said. “These things often linger. This stuff happens. But hopefully he’s not out for too much longer.”
