Morning notes on Janish, Wieters and the pitching schedule

SARASOTA, Fla. - Infielder Paul Janish, who underwent surgery 2 1/2 weeks ago to remove bone chips from his right elbow, will take ground balls for the first time Tuesday and make throws this weekend.

Janish's goal is to play in his first game March 20 or 21.

"Relatively speaking, it feels about as well as it can up to this point. Probably a little bit ahead of schedule, which is a difficult thing to kind of expedite on the training room side of it," said Janish, who signed a minor league deal on Nov. 20.

"I'm getting a little restless, but they'll allow me to start taking ground balls tomorrow. I don't start throwing until probably this weekend, so from then on it will be 10 days to two weeks of a throwing program, which will be abbreviated for me, not being a pitcher or anything of that nature. It's a completely different kind of program.

"Fortunately, I haven't had any problems at all. Everything up to this point has been really smooth, not having any residual soreness or pain or anything of that nature. It's all individual. Some people just don't react the same. Fortunately for me, it's been good up to this point, so hopefully we continue going down the right path."

Janish hoped to compete for a utility job, his plus defense at multiple infield positions the reason executive vice president Dan Duquette signed him. Being unable to play in an exhibition game until at least the third week of March hurts Janish's chances, but his primary goal now is to get healthy, make an impression and leave the Orioles with a difficult decision.

"For me at this point, it would be enough time for me to be healthy and play on opening day," Janish said. "Where that's going to be, obviously I don't get to make that decision, but for me it's just important to get seen, to be able to be down here in spring. Even early in the morning and doing early work on the back fields and stuff, just to mix it in and be seen.

"At this point in my career, whether I get to start in the big leagues or not, I aspire to be in the big leagues at some point this year and help the team in some capacity, so having the opportunity to get seen during spring training is huge for somebody like me. That's really my goal at this point, and depending how the chips fall, we'll adjust accordingly."

Janish already made an impression without taking the field. No one values defense more than manager Buck Showalter, and he wanted improvement at the Triple-A level. He's mentioned more than once in camp how Janish can "really pick it."

"That's huge, especially for a guy like Buck who needs to have confidence in who he's putting out there," said Janish, who hasn't played in the majors since appearing in 52 games with the Braves in 2013. "That's helping me out at this point because I think he does feel that way. Even the brief amount that I've had the chance to talk to him, I've received that impression from him, which is a good thing. And it probably helps being with Wally (Dave Wallace) and Dom (Chiti) in Atlanta and them probably to a certain extent vouching for me, too.

"Those things definitely will help and that's what I'm talking about in the realm of getting seen in spring training. That way I'm at least in the mix and that way when something does happen, whether it's at the end of camp or if it's in April, people have a frame of reference with me."

Matt Wieters continues to perform his catching drills with the exception of unleashing throws to second base. He's tweaking his routine today to include coming out of his crouch, a "catching-specific" motion, as he calls it.

"Just trying to catch in the crouch, come up and make a throw," he said. "Before I've been able to take my time to actually just wind up and make a throw. The distance will probably be shorter today, but just more catcher's specific type of movements. Nothing different than what we've done in the past, but take the step of making a throw like I would be making a throw to second base. Not the same intensity, but just the motion.

"Before it's been getting the arm strength with the rehab. Now, it's just a matter of making it more functional."

Catcher Caleb Joseph remains in camp today while waiting for the birth of his son.

Miguel Gonzalez will start the Thursday night split-squad game against the Blue Jays in Sarasota that airs on MASN HD. Zach Britton, Brian Matusz, Darren O'Day, Tommy Hunter and Brad Brach also are scheduled to pitch.

Steve Johnson will pitch in Tuesday's exhibition opener against the Tigers in Lakeland. Dylan Bundy is scheduled to pitch Wednesday against the Tigers in Sarasota.

Ryan Webb will pitch Thursday in one of the split-squad games. The Orioles also are in Dunedin that day to play the Blue Jays.

As previously reported, Ubaldo Jimenez is starting Tuesday and Kevin Gausman is starting Wednesday.