Westburg encouraged by progress from fractured hand

BOSTON – Jordan Westburg did some throwing in the outfield this afternoon, moved to the dirt and began taking ground balls at third base and at second. He made throws across the infield and flipped the ball as if starting a double play.

The Orioles can’t wait to get the real thing from Westburg, who’s on the injured list since fracturing his right hand on July 31.

“I’m happy with how it’s progressing,” he said later while standing at his locker. “Past couple days I feel like I’ve turned a little bit of a corner strength-wise. I’m able to grip some weights more and like really grasp down. It’s something I was having a problem with just putting pressure on that pinky side. But past couple days it’s felt good so I’m encouraged by that.”

And somehow not overly discouraged by the interruption to his season.

“It’s frustrating that I have a broken hand and I’m missing time, but it’s also an occupational hazard,” he said. “It’s been the way that I’ve described it. We know what we signed up for playing baseball. We know the dangers and the possibilities of injury involved with this game. It’s certainly not a contact sport like football, but when somebody’s throwing really hard and you’re in the box and you don’t have a lot of time to get out of the way, that stuff can happen.

“Yeah, it’s frustrating to miss time, but it’s part of the game. I hope this is the last time this happens in my career. The likelihood is probably not the last time I get hit in the hand, so I’m going to wear some padding I guess from now on and hope that it helps a little bit.”

An important step will be getting into the cage and swinging at bat, which Westburg said he should be ready to try “soon, hopefully.”

“As long as I feel like I’m recovering well and it’s not getting too sore the day after some hard work, I feel like swinging should be right around the corner,” he said.

Triple-A Norfolk’s season ends on Sept. 22, putting Westburg on the clock to begin a rehab assignment. But he isn’t listening to it tick. His rehab won’t be dictated by it.

“That doesn’t go through my mind,” he said. “I want to be ready when I’m ready. I’m certainly not gonna push my body to an uncomfortable timeframe. I gonna listen to my body. Rushing back does no good for this team if I can’t play at my best abilities. The last thing I want to do is rush back, be in pain swinging a bat, stepping in the box against some of the world’s best pitchers and wondering how am I gonna get the job done? I’d rather play a week longer and make sure when I come back I’m really helping the team.”

Told that Westburg wasn’t looking at the calendar, manager Brandon Hyde smiled and said, “I’m looking at the calendar.”

“I’d like to have all those guys back as soon as possible,” he said. “In Westy’s case, he’s progressing extremely well. … The hand’s getting stronger, he’s close to a hitting progression. (Ramón) Urías is getting close. He’s progressing ahead of schedule. We are running out of time, but some of these guys are trying to get back as fast as possible. Especially those two infielders. They’re coming along nicely.

“This is the roster we have right now and we’ve got to play the best we can, and these guys have the ability to do it.”

The Orioles need fresh and productive hitters. They’re 1 ½ games behind the Yankees and have scored seven runs in their last five games. They’re batting .250 this season with runners in scoring position after going 2-for-11 last night with 11 left on base.

Westburg can do nothing except watch from the dugout.

“Very difficult,” he said. “First from a team point it’s disappointing. These are my guys and I hate to see them lose, I hate to see them down. There’s not a day goes by where I’m in the dugout and wish I could be out there on the field and do something to help. Maybe I wouldn’t help if I was on the field, but just be a part of it, you know? And on the personal side, it’s my first stint on the IL, seems like first real injury, and so it’s been a learning process for me, how to handle days when I can do activities but not play that night. Or the early days where I wasn’t really doing a whole lot. It’s been a growth process. I’m certainly going to be better for it, but I’m ready to come back.”

The frustration is building within the club, though not always evident on the field or on camera. It’s only natural. The Orioles are below .500 since the break after winning 101 games and the division in 2023.

“Losing sucks,” Westburg said. “Morale is down when you lose, and we’ve been doing a lot of it recently. I’m not going to spare words. We haven’t been playing well in all facets of the game. So yeah, it sucks. Morale’s down a little bit. Guys, I think, are searching and putting a lot of pressure on themselves to right the ship, but deep down we all have this confidence that we’re a good ballclub. Like we have the pieces to make a run. We have the pieces to finish strong in the regular season, and so I think it just comes down to trusting ourselves and really going out there and just worrying about putting a good product together on the field, pitch by pitch really.

“If we get down early, like who cares? We’re going to find a way. That needs to be the mentality. And if we’re up, like, let’s step on somebody’s throat. I think right now that’s what needs to happen as a whole is there needs to be a little bit of, ‘OK, we don’t care what the noise is, we don’t care what happens during the game. Just find a way.’ So hopefully we can do that.”

Said Hyde: “You just react the way you react. There’s some frustration, I think, that’s very normal. I don’t see anybody getting overly angry. Guys want to play better and we have the ability to play better. We’ve just got to put it together.”

Twelve players are on the injured list and Félix Bautista, Kyle Bradish, John Means, Tyler Wells and Jorge Mateo aren’t returning. Jacob Webb resumes his injury rehab assignment tonight with Triple-A Norfolk and Danny Coulombe makes his first appearance with the Tides on Wednesday. Grayson Rodriguez is close to facing live hitters and going on an assignment. Outfielder Heston Kjerstad has moved his injury rehab assignment to Double Bowie tonight in Erie. He played two games at High-A Aberdeen.

Webb hasn’t pitched since Wednesday because the Orioles wanted to give him extra time off.

“I’m hoping that tonight goes well,” Hyde said. “So let’s hope that he throws the ball well and we’ll see what happens.”

The return of one injured player should lead to more bursting through the door. The Orioles want the hinges to fly off.

“We’re banged up. I don’t think that’s a secret,” Westburg said. “It’s starting to look like everybody might return around the same time. Maybe some guys earlier or maybe some guys later, but if we get Danny back here, you’ve got Grayson back, myself, Webby back, I think that definitely helps this clubhouse. Myself not included, just those guys, huge pieces. Yeah, I certainly think we can get those guys back by the end of the year, more like a little bit more of a push going into the postseason.”

* Anthony Santander hit his 40^th home run last night to become the eighth Orioles player to reach the mark. Chris Davis did it twice.

“Forty is such a rare milestone to get to,” Hyde said. “Did I think he could hit 30-plus? Yeah, I saw him do it a couple years ago. Forty’s a huge number. What I like about Tony early on, ’19, ’20, was he was a hitter first. The first spring training in ’19, the way he was driving the ball the other way left-handed. I liked the righty swing, also. And as he’s gotten older he’s learned how to hit with more power. That happens a lot of times with guys in their mid-to-late 20s of kind of figuring out what pitches they can drive.

“Tony’s just taken it to another level from a development standpoint of really maturing as a hitter and tapping into his power and what kind of player he can be. He’s done an unbelievable job of staying healthy this year and, knock on wood, the rest of the way. Proud of him.”

Santander didn’t have a home run this month until last night. He had two since Aug. 23.

“That was special. Thank God that I was able to hit 40 home runs in a season and my parents were able to see it,” he said.

“My mom was telling me all the time, ‘Hey, when are you going to hit a homer? Hey, I’m waiting for it.’ I said, ‘Mom, we don’t hit a homer every day. You have to wait for it.’ I’m so happy that I hit it, and she was so excited.”