First rehab outing a success, Kevin Gausman now looks to the next one

For one night, right-hander Kevin Gausman was back in the Carolina League. He made three starts with Single-A Frederick after he was drafted in 2012 and was back on the mound for the Keys last Friday night at Wilmington.

It was part of an injury-rehab assignment where Gausman began the process of building innings to get him back into a starting rotation - either in Triple-A Norfolk, Baltimore or both.

Gausman has been on the disabled list with right shoulder tendinitis retroactive to May 7. He has said several times now that he feels just fine physically, and that holds true for him coming out of that Friday night start for the Keys.

"My arm feels great," Gausman said this afternoon. "My shoulder hasn't been this strong ever. I feel really comfortable. Was throwing the ball pretty easy in Wilmington and it was coming out good.

"More than anything, I was interested to see how I was going to feel the next day, and I wasn't sore at all. That is a good sign and everything that was in there is gone, and you know it's been a month and I'm just kind of ready to get back in the game and be able to help this team."

Gausman pitched three innings for Frederick, allowing just one hit and no runs with no walks and four strikeouts. He threw 32 of 40 pitches for strikes and said the Wilmington hitters were up there hacking pretty aggressively against him.

His next rehab outing is set for tomorrow night at Double-A Bowie, although manager Buck Showalter said there was a chance that could be pushed back to Friday.

Gausman is excited to get back on the mound.

"Hopefully, I'll go five," he said. "Obviously, it depends on how it goes, but I have, 65 pitches, I think, so five innings would be good. I'll try to mix in everything, just like I did in Wilmington. Even with those guys, I wanted to work on all my stuff.

"I felt good. Outcome-wise you can't really say what that meant for your stuff down there, but Double-A is a higher stage. Ready to go there and compete and get into my five-day routine now."

So does Gausman feel he would be ready to return to the Orioles rotation after this next outing if he is needed?

"I think I'm ready after this next one, but pitch-count wise I would probably need one more," he said. "But physically I feel great and mentally I'm ready to go. I'm definitely excited about it, you know, and ready for the opportunity (to pitch again as a starter). I don't think I've ever had that much adrenaline for a high-A game in my life. I was pretty jacked up and ready to compete."

Before he went on the DL, Gausman made eight appearances out of the O's bullpen, going 1-0 with a 4.50 ERA. In 12 innings, he allowed 11 hits with five walks and 13 strikeouts.