Rodriguez sidelined with strained right lat muscle

Grayson Rodriguez, the No. 1 pitching prospect in baseball who appeared on the verge of making his Orioles debut, has been diagnosed with a strained right lat muscle. He underwent an orthopedic exam and MRI earlier today in Baltimore, which revealed the exact nature of the injury.

Rodriguez left last night’s game at Triple-A Norfolk after 5 2/3 scoreless innings. Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias said the right-hander will seek other opinions from the multiple physicians on the staff and consult various sports medicine doctors and those who are lat focused experts.

“Still in the process of assessing what the exact course of action and timetable would be associated with that, but we’re pretty confident that that’s the diagnosis that we’re working with,” Elias said.

“I think the good news is it’s his lat muscle and not more shoulder capsule, throwing arm related pathologies that you might see. It’s safe to say he’s going to miss some time, and probably a decent amount of time at a minimum, and we’ll take it from here. But it’s something that time should rectify at some point.

“Certainly a very disappointing development in terms of the 2022 calendar and our hopes and his, but it’s something that we’ll ultimately get through.”

The organization’s first-round draft pick in 2018 was barreling toward Baltimore with a 2.09 ERA, 0.839 WHIP and 80 strikeouts in 56 innings with Norfolk. He allowed three runs in his last six starts covering 34 2/3 innings, with nine walks and 47 strikeouts.

Elias downplayed Rodriguez’s prospect status when discussing the Orioles’ immediate plans for him.

“I think we’re pretty careful with anyone who undergoes an injury,” Elias said, “and as a professional sports team, we’ve got a wonderful medical team, an apparatus with a lot of experience. But certainly a 22-year-old on the front end of his career, I think it puts any kind of calculus toward the longest-term considerations rather than rushing back. I think that goes without saying.”

A lat strain can sideline a player in the three-to-five or four-to-six week range, but it’s too early for the Orioles to design any sort of timetable for Rodriguez.

“My understanding is that the range is kind of quite variant until we get a little more info, especially as he recovers the next couple days,” Elias said. “Still in the process of developing a course of action and you get other opinions, and there’s a lot of stuff that takes a few days to play out.”

Rodriguez, named the International League’s Pitcher of the Week on Monday, apparently didn’t complain of any discomfort in his back prior to throwing his last pitch, a fastball with a noticeable drop in velocity.

“I don’t think there were any red flags or indicators,” Elias said. “The start before this one, and the start this happened in, were probably his two best appearances of the year, and certainly I’ve talked about it ad nauseum, but there has been so much thought and planning into the calendar of his throwing every since the end of 2019, and even before that, that this just happened. Again, it’s not something that I think at this point in time looks particularly worrisome from a long-term standpoint, and we’ve had guys pull muscles all the time, but it’s an unfortunate timing development for both him and the Orioles, obviously.”   

Rodriguez eventually will rehab at the minor league facility in Sarasota, Fla.

He was supposed to be pitching at Camden Yards, perhaps as early as next week. Or at least in the first half of the season.

Asked how close Rodriguez came to a promotion and how many boxes he checked off, Elias replied, “The timing of this stinks.”

“We were watching every start of his very carefully, and carefully building him toward readiness from a workload standpoint, from an everything you can think of standpoint, to what’s going to be a very long and fruitful pitching career. And obviously, this is a delay,” Elias said.

“We’ll see where this ultimately goes in terms of the timetable, and that may be significant, so that’s not good news, but I do feel a sense of relief that we have no indication that his shoulder … the rotator cuff and the shoulder capsule and the labrum, that all looks good.”

The injury is too new for Elias to state with any certainty that Rodriguez will pitch for the Orioles in 2022.

“I don’t have any ability to speak on the timetable of this right now,” Elias said. “I’m trying to get as much info out as possible, as soon as possible, given the high-profile nature of the injury, and just the fact we’re all here, and this news came in.”