Westburg makes mattress more comfortable to cure back spasms

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Jordan Westburg is young by most standards, celebrating his 26^th birthday only last month. However, the soreness in his lower back is making him reconsider.

“I’m getting old,” he said this morning with a smile. “Feeling older by the day.”

Westburg hasn’t played since the Feb. 22 opener due to spasms in his back. He could return to the lineup as early as Thursday in Lakeland.

“Soon, any day now,” he said. “I feel good, back to full workouts.”

Westburg’s ailment isn’t a fresh story in spring training. He’s just the latest player felled by a mattress, in this case at the Airbnb in Sarasota that he’s renting with some teammates.

“I’m used to sleeping on a rock back home, and I get into the Airbnb and it’s a little bit softer mattress,” he said. “Something that I was trying to be stubborn through and it was stupid of me, but got a mattress topper and I feel much better.”

Westburg is an exception with his preference for a firm surface. That's usually the cause of any discomfort.

“I’ve got to sleep on a harder mattress,” he said. “Just talking with the other guys, I think they feel the same. I don’t know whether it’s just being athletes and a softer mattress kind of putting you in a bad posture. But that’s just what I’ve learned through my experience.

“A softer mattress is no good. I might sleep better on it the first few nights, but it’s no good for me.”

Westburg didn’t let the calendar dictate whether he tried to play. He also would have sat out a cluster of games in the regular season.

“It would have done the team no good to try and push through it,” he said. “Thankfully, it happened here and we have a few extra days to kind of work through it. But I’m glad it’s a short thing.”

Opening Day is March 27 in Toronto and Westburg isn’t concerned about his availability. He expects to be playing on the artificial surface at Rogers Centre, however hard or soft.

“We still have 2 ½, three weeks left of spring training,” he said. “I anticipate taking live at-bats on the days that I’m not playing and playing in the games and getting two and three at-bats, possibly four as we stretch closer to the season. So I think I’ll be just fine.”

Westburg is living with Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson, Ryan Mountcastle, Zach Eflin and Colton Cowser, and the group will give the owners of the Airbnb a positive review.

“I like the house, I like my roommates,” Westburg said. "We're good.”

Those feelings extend to everyone else on the club. They don’t have to be under the same roof away from the ballpark to enjoy each other’s company.

“The clubhouse chemistry is great,” Westburg said. “You guys are in here every morning. The pool table is always full. I know this row of lockers is always chatting. I think it’s good so far. I think the new guys and the guys who have been here are jelling and coming together. I think guys are playing well, I think guys are looking good. I’m excited to see where this thing goes.”

Reliever Andrew Kittredge, one of the newcomers to the Orioles, remains shut down with a sore left knee cause by inflammation that requires daily treatments. His only appearance in a game was on March 26.

“Right now it’s feeling pretty good. It’s just kind of come and go,” he said, adding that he isn’t sure when he’ll get back on a mound.

“It’s hard to say right now. It was sore. I think we’ll have some discussions with the training staff and team doctors and stuff and figure out what that looks like.”

Yesterday’s off-day provided more rest for Kittredge.

“Taking the last couple days easy. I haven’t really done much,” he said.

Kittredge warmed in the bullpen Saturday but was held out of the game against the Pirates.

“I’ve never experienced anything like this before,” he said. “It wasn’t excruciating, but I think given the time and everything, I just wanted to be careful. I was really pushing to pitch in that game and I just decided that it probably wasn’t the best decision”

Kittredge can’t offer any assurances that he’ll be ready on Opening Day. The first step is gaining clearance to throw again.

“It’s just hard to say at this point,” he said. “I don’t know what that looks like. I don’t know how much time I’m going to be off the field or anything like that. I think at this point, just kind of give the direction to the doctors and kind of see what they think is best and go from there.”