The Orioles received some grim news regarding left-hander Josh Rogers, as an MRI revealed structural damage in his left ulnar collateral ligament, Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun writes. Rogers will seek a second opinion from Dr. Keith Meister, but Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com writes that Rogers is expected to require Tommy John surgery. Rogers explained that he felt “something different” in his elbow when exiting a recent start and acknowledged that the “level of concern for everybody is pretty high.”
If Rogers does ultimately go under the knife, it’ll be his second Tommy John surgery. He also underwent the procedure during his senior year of high school before recovering to enjoy a solid two seasons at Louisville. The Yankees selected Rogers in the 11th round of the 2015 draft and traded him to Baltimore last year in the Zack Britton swap.
Rogers would be the second upper-level arm acquired by the Orioles last summer to require Tommy John surgery this season. Right-hander Zach Pop, acquired from the Dodgers in the Manny Machado deal, underwent Tommy John surgery last month after pitching just 10 2/3 frames of Double-A ball this season.
The 24-year-old Rogers hasn’t pitched well in the Majors or in Triple-A this season, although it’s certainly possible that the state of his elbow impacted his results. He’s pitched to an ERA north of 8.00 in 55 Triple-A frames and in 14 1/3 MLB innings as well. That’s a vast departure from last season, when he tossed a combined 139 2/3 innings of 3.54 ERA ball between the Triple-A affiliates of the Yankees and the Orioles. While he’s not considered a premium prospect, Rogers ranked 28th among Baltimore farmhands heading into the season, according to Baseball America, who tabbed him as a potential fifth starter.
Even a serviceable fifth starter would be a welcome sight for the O’s, who haven’t received competitive outings from the final two spots of their rotation all season. David Hess is third on the team in games started but carries a 7.36 ERA. The trio of Gabriel Ynoa, the out-for-the-season Alex Cobb and the recently outrighted Dan Straily have combined for 17 starts but yielded 68 runs in 73 1/3 innings. Rogers was expected to be a rotation option in Baltimore this season but would be a non-factor until the second half of the 2020 campaign, at the earliest, if he requires surgery.
They should have vetoed those trades over medicals when they had the chance.
I highly doubt the medicals last July showed a UCL injury
Rogers wasnt anywhere near a 5th starter. David Hess’ old scouting report probably claimed he had that upside as well. His 90 mph heater got rocked over and over again. Sadly for him a TJ is going to be real tough to come back from. Especially if he doesn’t get back 100% of his velo.
Wow, and Rogers doesn’t even throw very hard…
His margin for error is very slim with a 90 MPH fastball if he comes back with an 87 mph heater the career is over. Orioles saw Dylan Bundy go from 95 to 90. He’s barely hanging on with that.
All conjecture at this point of course. But pitchers commonly come back with just as much strength and velocity as pre-surgery.
I’d like to see Eshelman come up to take his slot. Ynoa shouldn’t be long for a rotation slot and even if he is that leaves us the 5th slot open. Hunter Harvey could also be an option to come in after an opener. When karns returns I could see a Karns/Harvey combo working quite well. If we end up trading cashner I think both those things will have to happen.
Karns hadn’t pitched since 2017 and was immediately injured the moment he starting pitching in 2019. What makes you think he’s a viable part of the O’s rotation AT ALL?
Opener. Being a competent opener for the orioles isn’t saying much. All I’m asking is for Karns to toss 2-3 innings once or twice a week. And quite frankly if it doesn’t happen, who cares? The O’s aren’t going anywhere and I certainly wasn’t predicting Karns to lead them to a division title. I was simply stating that Harvey has found success in that role in the minor leagues and Karns is a logical opener choice. In case you haven’t noticed the whole rotation is in shambles and the O’s really get nothing from the 4th and 5th slots.
Harvey has yet to show anything in AA. he’s come back from injury just as well as Bundy has.
Worse actually, and injured far more often than Bundy. The organization has moved Harvey away from starting and we’ve seen him recently making appearances in relief.
Apparently you guys haven’t been paying attention because he’s thrived in his new role as the “bulk” guy out of the pen. Last 3 outings 9 innings 2 hits 2 walks 11K’s. That’s the role he can help us in. He’s never going to be a SP. His body won’t hold up in that role. He can play his stuff up in shorter bursts. The ML team desperately needs guy who can get outs if Harvey can gives us 9 outs and Karns can give us 6, that’s more than we’ve gotten all year out of Hess or Straily.
We’re going to have to deploy that strategy until we have the pitching depth in the major leagues. We have none right now. I’m perfectly fine with Harvey moving into that role. You can’t force a square peg into a round hole. Harvey isn’t a starter and that’s alright if we found a spot he can be useful in. Not all former top SP’s prospect wind up that way. We should know that all too well in Baltimore.
I don’t expect to see Harvey in Baltimore until 2021. He’s going to have to re-learn how to pitch, judging by his lack of success this season.
Have you been paying attention in Bowie? I just posted his last 3 outings above. He’s seem to find success in his new role. I don’t know how this has evaded oriole fans.
At the end of ST Harvey flashed a new pitch – reportedly a 97 mph sinker of some sort – that was deemed unhittable. Here’s hoping they make Harvey a closer and if so, maybe we see him in the big leagues as soon as September.