Kyle Bradish tossed 77 pitches over five innings of a Triple-A rehab start yesterday, which was his third rehab outing while recovering from a right UCL sprain. It looks as though the Orioles are satisfied with the progress, as manager Brandon Hyde told BaltimoreBaseball.com’s Rich Dubroff and other reporters that Bradish will probably be activated from the 15-day injured list this week to make his official 2024 debut.
“Our medical team talked to him last night, the pitching guys as well. He feels great,” Hyde said. “We’re just looking right now when to slot him in, but he’s going to be with us soon….He got to an innings spot and a pitch spot, the amount of pitches he threw where we feel like he’s ready. Kyle was one of the best pitchers in the league last year, and we’re excited to have him back.”
It was a little more than two months ago that Bradish’s injury was revealed, which caused immediate speculation that the righty’s season could be in jeopardy if Tommy John surgery or an internal brace procedure was needed to address the UCL damage. However, Bradish received a PRP injection that seemed to work wonders, as he was able to gradually increase his workload to the point that he was able to start his rehab assignment earlier than expected. Though missing a month of the regular season is no small matter, that is a concession Bradish and the Orioles will happily take given the initial threat of a much longer layoff.
After making his MLB debut in 2022, Bradish quietly emerged as Baltimore’s ace in his second big league season. The right-hander finished fourth in AL Cy Young Award voting after delivering a 2.83 ERA and above-average strikeout (25%) and walk (6.6%) rates across 168 2/3 innings. He allowed a good deal of hard contact, but his 49.2% grounder rate limited the damage, and Bradish benefited from a .270 BABIP.
The addition of Corbin Burnes further bolstered the Orioles’ rotation this winter, pushing Bradish down to the projected No. 2 spot in the pitching staff. The rotation took some more hits when John Means’ elbow soreness resulted in a season-opening stint on the IL, and Tyler Wells was also sidelined two weeks ago with elbow inflammation. Hyde told Dubroff and company that Wells hadn’t yet started throwing, as “we’re just kind of slow playing him” and “making sure there’s no soreness in there.”
Means is much closer to a return, as his final Triple-A rehab outing is set for Sunday. Assuming all goes well, both Bradish and Means could be activated in the next week, thus bumping Albert Suarez and probably Cole Irvin out of the starting mix. That said, Hyde said “everything’s up on the table right now,” in terms of how the O’s might line up their starters, as the team has also considered using a six-man rotation. Such a deployment would help ease Bradish and Means into action, and the Orioles’ upcoming off-days on May 6 and 9 would also allow for a potential reset after the club evaluates everyone through at least one start.
I was just reading about Joey Gallo and how he has a dead bat, but this news about Bradish is good news, good news indeed
I don’t know how you could bump Suarez out with the way he’s pitched.
Big start for Irvin today vs his old team. If he pitches well, it complicates things.
Either way, Yohan Ramirez is the guy most likely to lose his roster spot when either Means or Bradish returns.
Probably Ramirez for means and Baumann for bradish, at least that’s how I think it should go.
I don’t think Irvin or Kremer are good enough to be guaranteed starting jobs on a World Series caliber team. Not sure about Means either but he looked ok last year. Maybe piggyback some guys but sometimes that doesn’t work??
Kremer is a typical, solid #5 starter for any team and his career numbers back that up. Irvin showed he could come out of the pen last year when the team recalled him back up and after his start today, he would be a great asset for the pen, which clearly is struggling overall. As for Saurez, I’d prefer that they continue riding the hot hand with him and let him start. Maybe a 6 man rotation for a few weeks helps ease Bradish and Means back into things while giving them more time between starts. It’ll be very interesting to see what Elias does.
I do think it’s up in the air what they do w/ the roster when Bradish and Means return.
Suarez with a good start tomorrow would be hard to send down. Ramirez will be gone for sure but that final spot IDK.
I think a Suarez option is most likely bc we wont want to lose Baumann. He’ll definitely be claimed if exposed to waivers but he definitely hasn’t been good enough.
Actually not sure if Suarez is optionable. Guess Baumann is in trouble
Suarez has no option left.
Yeah. Be tough to let him go given how well he’s pitched. But I guess that could change in an instant. Soft matchup today for him against Oakland.
Nobody knows if Means is going back into the rotation right away…
Still a roster spot that somebody has to lose. Feels like Baumann or Suarez will have to go without an injury to someone else.
Cionel Perez’s eventual return will be interesting also. I wonder if he’ll just be DFA’d.