Povich arrives, Bradish's next turn not set yet

TORONTO – Moments after confirming that O’s pitching prospect Cade Povich is in fact in Toronto and on the taxi squad for the Orioles, manager Brandon Hyde was unable (or perhaps unwilling) to provide the next date for a Kyle Bradish (1-0, 3.18 ERA) start.

“I don’t know yet, no,” Hyde said when asked if he has a day for Bradish’s next outing.

Bradish last pitched on Saturday at home versus the Rays. He presumably will not be on the mound tomorrow, which would have marked his spot in the rotation.

On May 26 versus the White Sox in Chicago, Bradish pitched seven no-hit innings on 103 pitches and lowered his ERA to 1.75. But pitching with an extra day of rest in that game with Tampa Bay he allowed five runs over 2 2/3 on 76 pitches.

Bradish’s season got a late start after he had a platelet-rich plasma injection in January to promote the healing of a right elbow UCL sprain.

Hyde was asked if Bradish is scheduled to pitch in the series with Tampa Bay which begins Friday in Florida.

“I don’t know. We’re still evaluating everything,” he said.

It could just be the O’s want to give several extra days of rest for Bradish but with the history of the last few months, the uncertainty of his next turn now is concerning.

On the other hand, Hyde also said other pitches could be pushed back during the next few weeks as well.

“It’s really with everybody right now," he said. "In this stretch (of 30 games in 31 days) we’re going to be TBA probably a lot. This grind of 40-plus days with one off day. We’re going to try to give guys days when we can. You will probably see a lot of TBAs here this month.”

But Povich is here and could take the ball and make his MLB debut tomorrow if the O’s activate him and make that move. He has gone 5-1 with a 3.18 ERA and 1.11 WHIP in 11 starts for Triple-A Norfolk. He is the club’s No. 8 prospect per Baseball America and No. 9 via MLBPipeline.com.

Of tomorrow’s starter, Hyde said “We’re still TBA and still have got a lot of things up in the air. We’re still discussing a lot of stuff,” he said.

Whether we see him tomorrow or not, Povich today got closer to making the Orioles roster. He’s had a strong year on the farm with an ERA of 2.35 heading into his last start and with an 11.9 K rate.

“Just a great experience,” he said of Povich joining the clubhouse today. “Any time we can bring up one of those guys on taxi that have never been in the big leagues to get some major league experience and to see what it looks like, be around the major league coaching staff, throw with the major league pitchers and have the coaches watch them, I think it’s all positive.”

Povich got off to a great start this year, with an ERA of 1.03 in five April starts.

“He threw the ball great for us in spring,” said Hyde. “I thought it was huge strides from the year before. It’s great stuff. It’s all about command and strikes with him and that is something we talked about when we sent him out at the end of camp. Just really wanted him to minimize walks and try to get hitters out early in the count. Because the stuff really plays. He’s done that in Triple-A. The walks are way down and the fastball command has been better. So we’re excited about him."

Even with Bradish's next start not set and some possible TBAs upcoming as Hyde said earlier, he also today said the club has not ruled out yet at some point using a six-man rotation.

"No, you could see us go six-man. You could see us insert guys here and there. All those types of things. We're really kind of open right now. So we're kind of going series-by-series honestly at this point to get through this stretch."

If the O's did go to a six-man rotation, would Corbin Burnes still pitch every fifth day?

"If we can give Burnes an extra day we will too. We're all in the same boat, honestly. We're still in early June. We still have 100 games to go and we're in this ridiculous stretch. And we just lost two starters, so we are trying to keep these guys as healthy as we can the rest of the way," Hyde said.