Taking a second look at some Elias updates

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The number of injuries to hit the Orioles this season has reached a point where yesterday’s media session with executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias came across as largely positive.

Grayson Rodriguez should return to the rotation in the later portion of September after his diagnosis of a mild strain of the teres major muscle – or the shoulder region. It isn’t identical to the 2022 lat/teres strain that cost him exactly three months at Triple-A Norfolk.

Three months with the Orioles in 2024 would have kept him from pitching until next year.

That’s positive news. It’s certainly above the worst-case scenario that we braced for earlier in the afternoon.

The challenge now is stay in the division race with projected starters Rodriguez, Kyle Bradish, John Means and Tyler Wells missing from the rotation. Only Rodriguez is able to return and it’s gonna be a while with a minimum 10-day shutdown period and a re-imaging of the shoulder in about three weeks.

Given this rotation projection back in March, is there anyone who would have given the Orioles a sliver of hope to win the American League East or even make the playoffs? Baseball’s drift toward parity in 2024 has proven crucial. No team is dominant.

"You never want to see a guy get hurt," said Corbin Burnes. "Obviously, we’ve seen a lot of it this year, so it’s definitely unfortunate. It’s a good thing he’s going to be back. He’s going to be a big piece for us in the postseason. Hopefully, he can start playing catch here in a couple days and work him back into it and we can see him back, get a couple starts in before the postseason. It creates some more opportunities for guys to step up and fill his spot."

Jacob Webb’s barking elbow was a relief to the club because tests didn’t reveal any structural damage. The bark was better than the possible bite.

Webb’s loss for a long stretch would have taken away a right-hander who’s held left-handed hitters to a .125 average and .433 OPS. Right-handed hitters have batted .229 with a .712 OPS.

He ranks among the most underrated members of the club, and Elias’s update also qualified as positive.

The roster underwent a significant makeover at the deadline and further changes next month also will be striking with the anticipated returns of Rodriguez, infielder Jordan Westburg and reliever Danny Coulombe. These are strong arms for a playoff push.

Elias also closed whatever door remained ajar for closer Félix Bautista to pitch in October. The club never gave an indication that it might happen but yesterday brought a definitive response.

“We’re ruling out October,” Elias said.

Can’t get much more definitive than that. Tell your friends.

Bautista’s progression to a full mound is newsy but nothing more.

“We’re just going to steer things for next spring training,” Elias said, “and make sure we get everything right to get him ready for 2025.”

Elias couldn’t answer everything. He knows that outfielder Heston Kjerstad has lingering concussion symptoms but can’t state with any amount of certainty that they caused or contributed to a 2-for-18 slump and initial option to Triple-A Norfolk before it was nixed.

“I’d be speculating,” Elias said. “He didn’t report it, so we can’t really know. But just being around concussions in baseball, they’re weird. And he also had a play in left field where he kind of rattled around against the Padres. I’m total speculating, but the bottom line is, as soon as the athlete says that he’s having symptoms, we dive into the process for making sure we’re taking care of that. That’s what we did here.

“But it is mild and hopefully it’s not a big, long deal.”

Elias named the usual suspects when going over the pitching depth in the organization. Triple-A Norfolk’s Chayce McDermott is shelved with a shoulder injury but Cade Povich and Cole Irvin are candidates to return. But Elias also mentioned Norfolk right-hander Brandon Young, signed for $20,000 as an undrafted free agent in the truncated 2020 draft out of Louisiana Lafayette.

You won’t find Young in many prospect rankings, but Baseball America has him 21^st in the system. He posted a 4.09 ERA in seven appearances with Double-A Bowie after his reinstatement from the injured list and has a 3.71 ERA in 13 games (11 starts) with Norfolk and has struck out 96 batters in a combined 75 1/3 innings.

Young, who turns 26 later this month, struck out 10 batters in five innings and allowed only one earned run on Aug. 1 in Charlotte. He is “on the radar screen” according to Elias. He barely fits at 6-foot-6.

The Orioles don’t have Young on the 40-man roster and he’s eligible for the Rule 5 draft. Interesting to know that he’s in play if they dip into the minors again for pitching.