Elias updates Davis, Martin, Harvey and Kjerstad

A knee injury limited Chris Davis to 16 games last summer. Today's hip surgery prevents him from joining the active roster and playing in 2021.

The countdown to the end of Davis' franchise-record $161 million contract is accelerating, though the deal includes deferred payments through 2037.

Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias provided the update this afternoon in a Zoom call, the first of any substance since Davis was shut down following the exhibition opener.

Two at-bats and one mysterious disappearance.

Elias said Davis underwent successful arthroscopic surgery this morning to repair the labrum in his left hip. Dr. Mark Muller handled the procedure at the Baylor Scott and White Sports Surgery Center in Dallas.

"This is a procedure that typically carries a return to play in a baseball context of anywhere from four to five months, so he projects to be out for the season, but it is a timeline that would allow him to return and participate in a full spring training next year and we anticipate that he'll be fully recovered at that time," Elias said.

"This is something that we had come to in conjunction with him in working through some of the discomfort and pain he was experiencing during spring training in his lower back and hip region and ultimately this was decided upon the course of action that hopefully will be curative. But there will be somewhat of a lengthy recovery there for Chris. He's home, he's doing well, everything went very smoothly and he's on the road to recovery right now."

Manager Brandon Hyde said he has stayed in contact with Davis "here and there" via text messages.

"I left him a voice mail this morning and wished him luck with the surgery. But, yeah, it's unfortunate news and I'm hoping the surgery goes well," Hyde said.

As for whether he's hopeful that Davis can play next year, Hyde said, "Sounds like it went well, and I hope the rehab goes well. Yeah, we'll see. I'm sure that he's going to work his butt off this offseason. I just don't know much about the surgery, honestly. I know it's going to take him throughout this season, but I expect him to be ready to go next spring and looking forward to seeing him."

Davis went 6-for-52 with an RBI last summer in 55 plate appearances, receiving a platelet-rich plasma injection in the knee, and Elias and Hyde said in spring training that he'd need to earn at-bats with Trey Mancini and Ryan Mountcastle on the roster. Davis earned that contract after batting .262/.361/.562 with 31 doubles, 47 home runs and 117 RBIs in 2015. But his stats, including games played, have been in steady decline and the criticism has intensified.

"I think it's safe to say that veteran baseball players or any baseball players, they deal with things and they play through things over a course of seasons and years, and ultimately you get to a point where you come to the conclusion that something needs to be done about it," Elias said. "We weren't able to see him in much spring training action. He's been dealing with this since then and it was the conclusion of the medical people involved and Chris that he wanted to get this fixed once he had the proper diagnosis."

Infielder Richie Martin was placed on the minor league injured list with a fractured bone in his left wrist after crashing into the center field fence last night in the fourth inning at Triple-A Norfolk. The pursuit of a fly ball led to the break and an inside-the-park home run.

Martin, a former Rule 5 pick from the Athletics, was making his second appearance in the outfield as a professional, both coming this season.

"Fortunately it is a non-displaced fracture, meaning we're not anticipating any type of surgical intervention and it will be a straightforward healing process, but obviously there will be several weeks involved in that," Elias said. "He will be in a splint for about six weeks and I think that we would hope to get him back on the baseball field in that eight-to-12 week range."

Martin missed the 2020 season with a fractured left wrist and underwent surgery in January to remove a broken hamate bone.

"Another really tough turn of events for a guy that we like a lot, that plays really hard, and it's just unfortunate that he's had some unlucky injuries the last few years, but we're going to do everything we can to get him back before the end of the season and get him back into baseball action if it's at all possible," Elias said.

Said Hyde: "Really unfortunate news we got last night with Richie. It still is a big year for him, just because he missed so much time last year getting hurt in spring training 2.0 and missing a lot of at-bats and innings played defensively last year. And we were hoping that he'd get a nice year of development and get a lot of innings played, catch up on a bunch of at-bats. And to see him have to miss some time, it's disappointing."

Stevie Wilkerson and Pat Valaika are sharing second base, the former back in the majors for the first time since September 2019 and going 2-for-4 with an RBI last night. Elias indicated that the club will refrain from seeking outside help at the position, though he's flexible.

Jahmai Jones isn't an option from Norfolk because he's on the injured list with an strained oblique and the Orioles want him to collect more at-bats before promoting him.

"There's a lot of things left to see," Elias said. "We don't have any imminent plans to do so. We're always looking and players become available - get DFA'd, get released, they have outs, maybe they'll hit the trade market. We'll look at all of that. I do view Richie's injury as a big blow to our depth in the middle infield and in the utility category for this 2021 season. We were counting on him to provide that and possibly come up and do more for us.

"This really stinks for us and for him especially. I feel really badly for him that another ill-timed injury has occurred. He hasn't really gotten an extensive stretch to play since 2019. We do have a lot of interesting infielders that are starting to matriculate into the upper minors and we're keeping an eye on all of those guys. Others are a little banged up right now, too, and so we're doing with the group that we have. But we will certainly see how things evolve on all fronts external and internal over the next few weeks and in the meantime we hope that the group we have up here in Baltimore continues to stay healthy and contribute."

Outfielder Heston Kjerstad, the second overall selection in the 2020 draft who was diagnosed with myocarditis, is working out in Sarasota, Fla. with no timeline to begin playing games. Nothing really to update.

"There hasn't been much to report," Elias said. "I feel it's appropriate to emphasis again that this is a very tricky condition that he's coming out of. It involves the heart muscle, very serious in that regard and it's something that we're going to have to take very slowly and methodically and carefully. And it's probably going to take some time, but we've got all hands on deck to make sure this goes well.

"He's got every medical resource available to him, world-class, and he's got a great head on his shoulders and he's a very determined, disciplined kid, so it all projects well. But we're not going to rush anything and this is certainly not something that I've had a lot of experience with and it's not something that happens a lot in baseball, so there's not a real precise timeline we can put on something like this."

Reliever Hunter Harvey remains on the 60-day injured list with a strained oblique, but he's making encouraging progress.

"He's throwing in simulated games, his velocity is there," Elias said. "The innings that he's thrown down there in Sarasota have gone well so far. He's only thrown a couple so far and we've got to have several outings before he's deemed fully ready and built up and all those boxes have been checked from a rehab status. But at this point, I still think we're projecting him to be eligible to come off the 60-day IL if not exactly 60 days after his placement, then a few days thereafter assuming things continue to go smoothly."

A rehab assignment is possible, but those details need to be worked out. He's basically in a Rookie-level Gulf Coast League environment in Sarasota.

"Another complicated factor in this as we're currently seeing with Anthony Santander is there are re-entry protocols that have to be factored in and tied into something like this," Elias said. "With a pitcher in particular it might be a little extra tricky with those down days, so we'll map all that out. But he's probably going to pitch at another level between the extended spring training and the major leagues."

Here are the Orioles' starters versus the Nationals in D.C.:

Friday: Jorge López
Saturday: Bruce Zimmermann
Sunday: Matt Harvey