Means "way ahead of schedule" after elbow surgery

Orioles pitcher John Means has his arbitration hearing set for May 26, during an off-day between visits to New York and Boston.

Means will be with the Orioles for the first half of the trip, wearing a brace on his left elbow and a mustache that he decided to grow again.

“Got to keep it interesting, you know?” he said this afternoon in his first media scrum since undergoing Tommy John surgery.

“I’m losing my mind. I’ve got to keep it fresh. I don’t know. Felt like doing it one day and here it is.”

The facial hair gets mixed reviews, but Means said his recovery from surgery is “going better than it’s supposed to be.”

“And my range, they said I’m way ahead of schedule,” he said. “Three weeks in, got 12 months to go, so little victories here and there. But it feels good.”

The forearm stiffness that Means felt didn’t raise immediate concerns. He noticed it while throwing a curveball on opening day at Tropicana Field and with all of his pitches in his second start against the Brewers, leaving the game after the fourth inning.

Means talked about resting a few days, attempting to throw again and hopping back into the rotation. The severity of the injury was discovered later.

“We did a lot of tests with the forearm and movements and stuff, and then they did the MRI and we did the dye test and did another MRI, and talked to a couple doctors, and they said it was about 90 percent torn,” Means said.

“It was a weird thing where it wasn’t the typical symptoms, it wasn’t the blowout, tingly fingers. It was just a tight forearm, but it was torn and we had to get it fixed.”

Means didn’t return to Camden Yards until yesterday, receiving a warm welcome from teammates. The mental grind of a long rehab process made a little easier in familiar surroundings.

“It’s different,” he said. “I’ve never really experienced being home, and I won’t experience being home for an entire summer. It’s more difficult than I thought it was going to be. It’s tough watching games and that sort of thing. You just want to be there, good or bad, whatever it is. You want to be there for your team and be a part of it, so that part’s been hard, but I’m getting used to it, and I’m going to come back as much as I possibly can to be around the guys.

“I have a family, so there’s a lot of other things I can worry about, too.”

Means will come back to Baltimore for longer homestands, at least once a month to feel closer to the team. There isn’t a target date for his return to the mound or in a game in 2023.

“Not right now,” he said. “I think you kind of have to feel it as it goes, and right now I think it’s too early to say, but I’ll probably have a better idea here in five or six months.

“There’s definitely a desire and I’ll be working out like crazy to try to keep that competitive edge and all that. I’m looking forward to coming back, I’m looking forward to the grind of this and just another chink in the armor.”

Tyler Wells underwent the same procedure with the same surgeon, Dr. Keith Meister. Means provides leadership in the clubhouse, but he defers to Wells on this subject.

They spoke about it earlier today, and Means also has reached out to others with shared experiences.

“It’s so common now,” Means said. “They kind of echoed the same thing, the tough part is the mental side of it, and it’s a marathon, it’s not a sprint. Just battling with yourself every day, keeping that competition with rehab and with the workouts and everything like that. I definitely have a good group of people around me.”

Manager Brandon Hyde hopes to keep Means around as much as possible.

“It sounds like the surgery was very successful,” Hyde said. “It’s great to see him in the clubhouse. He was itching to get back and be around the guys, and they were looking forward to seeing him, as well. It’s nice to see him around here, at least for a little while. I’m sure he’ll be back and forth this summer.

“He’s still a big part of our team and it’s great to have him in the building.”

Hyde chose to “take the high ground here” when asked about comments made by Yankees manager Aaron Boone and slugger Aaron Judge following last night’s game that criticized the new left field dimensions. Judge hit two home runs but was robbed of a third on a ball that struck the top of the wall.

“It’s a travesty, man,” Judge said afterward. “I’m pretty upset. It just looks like a Create-A-Park now.”

Boone referred to Camden Yards as “build your own park.”

Hyde didn’t tear down a friendship with Boone.

“(Rocco) Baldelli had some nice quotes about it, having him understand the reason,” Hyde said. “Fly balls to left field were homers and it was really unfair a lot of times. I think Baldelli said in so many words – I don’t want to put words in his mouth – it’s going to make right-handed hitters stay on the ball longer, become true hitters, understand to go to right-center.

“It’s just playing more fair than before.”

For the Yankees
Aaron Hicks CF
Aaron Judge DH
Anthony Rizzo 1B
Josh Donaldson 3B
Gleyber Torres 2B
Joey Gallo LF
Isiah Kiner-Falefa SS
Marwin Gonzalez RF
Jose Trevino C

Gerrit Cole RHP

Here are the starters for the series against the Rays this weekend:

Friday: Tyler Wells vs. Ryan Yarbrough
Saturday: Kyle Bradish vs. Jeffrey Springs
Sunday: Spenser Watkins vs. Corey Kluber