LOS ANGELES — The Orioles placed Ryan Mountcastle on the 10-day injured list Monday with a sprained left wrist after the injury kept him out of the lineup for the past three games. The move is retroactive to Aug. 23, meaning the earliest Mountcastle can return is Sept. 2.
To replace Mountcastle on the roster, Baltimore recalled infielder Liván Soto, who has been up and down several times already this month since returning to the organization at the trade deadline.
On Tuesday, manager Brandon Hyde said Mountcastle’s left wrist hadn’t responded to treatment as well as they had hoped.
“We were hoping it was going to improve those couple days, with the off day,” Hyde said. “Just wasn’t showing much improvement. So it’s going to be a lot of treatment here over the next week. Timetable of that, I don’t know. I’m hoping, I’m staying optimistic that when the IL stint is over, the days are over, he’s able to join us.”
Mountcastle is a key piece in Baltimore’s lineup. The first baseman is hitting .265 with a .730 on-base-plus-slugging percentage. Without him in the near term, the Orioles will rely on Ryan O’Hearn and Emmanuel Rivera to play first base, with O’Hearn likely to see the bulk of action against right-handed pitchers while Rivera faces southpaws.
The injury, which occurred Aug. 22 after Mountcastle slid headfirst into second base on a double against the Houston Astros during the second inning, was initially considered day-to-day. He remained in the game until he was replaced in the ninth. But with no apparent improvement, the Orioles opted to shelve him for the time being.
O’Hearn, Rivera and Eloy Jiménez should all see more action, with Jiménez’s coming as a designated hitter. O’Hearn has often been in a platoon role at first base and DH with Mountcastle. He is hitting .269 this season. Rivera was recently claimed off waivers from Miami Marlins and is more of a glove-first option, hitting .213. And Jiménez, traded for ahead of the deadline, has turned around a poor season with the Chicago White Sox by hitting .304 since arriving in Baltimore.
Mountcastle’s injury is the latest for a team that has been buffeted by setbacks all season. On the infield, Jorge Mateo and Jordan Westburg may not return this season. Mateo suffered a dislocated elbow and hasn’t begun baseball activities, nor has he ruled out surgery. Westburg, who suffered a fractured hand when he was hit by a pitch, could be a candidate to return later in September.
And the pitching staff has dealt with even more ailments, including season-ending surgeries for right-handers Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells and left-hander John Means. Right-handers Grayson Rodriguez and Zach Eflin are both on the injured list, although their respective back and shoulder strains are considered less serious.
Eflin and Rodriguez both threw in the outfield at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday, and Eflin said his shoulder is feeling much better. He’s thrown for the past five or six days without issue, he said, and he plans to return as early as Sunday without a rehab start necessary.
Hyde said he would “knock on wood” to bring that timeline to fruition. “We need him back,” Hyde said. “Everything’s going well so far. Still a few more days to go, but we’re hoping he can come back when the IL is over.”
Additionally, right-hander Jacob Webb will join Triple-A Norfolk on a rehab assignment in the next few days. Hyde expects the reliever, who is dealing with elbow soreness, to return to the majors in early September.
