Orioles Place Ryan Helsley On IL With Elbow Inflammation

The Orioles announced that right-hander Ryan Helsley has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to April 29th, with right elbow inflammation. Fellow righty Albert Suárez has been selected to take Helsley’s place on the active roster. The 40-man roster had a couple of vacancies and the addition of Suárez brings the O’s up to 39 players on there.

It’s an out-of-nowhere IL stint for Helsley, as there wasn’t any previous indication that anything was wrong. He last pitched on Tuesday, recording a clean inning and earning a save as the O’s beat the Astros 5-3. His fastball averaged 99.3 miles per hour, right around his season average and a slight increase over his previous two outings. He didn’t pitch in the past two days but Baltimore didn’t have save chances in the interim. The game on Wednesday was postponed. The two games in yesterday’s doubleheader were not close, one being decided by six runs and the other by seven.

The club will presumably have more information later but it’s always a bit ominous when a pitcher’s throwing elbow is involved in an injury. For the O’s, they will have to figure out how to proceed with yet another hit to their bullpen. Their previous closer, Félix Bautista, underwent shoulder surgery in August of last year. That procedure came with a timeline of about a year. He could perhaps be back late in 2026 but it’s also possible he misses the entire season, which is why Helsley was signed to fill the closer’s role.

The O’s also have Dietrich Enns and Yaramil Hiraldo on the IL, meaning Helsey is now the fourth reliever on the shelf. Guys like Andrew Kittredge, Rico Garcia, Anthony Nunez or Grant Wolfram could step up to absorb some higher-leverage roles.

For Helsley personally, it could be a rough development as well. Not so long ago, he was one of the top relievers in the game and was trending towards cashing in as a free agent. Unfortunately, he had an ill-timed dip in performance in 2025, his walk year. His earned run average shot up to 4.50 after being around 2.00 in the previous three seasons.

He signed a two-year, $28MM deal with the Orioles, a pact which contained an opt-out halfway through. That would give Baltimore a replacement for Bautista in the closer’s role. For Helsley, ideally, he would return to form and then go back to free agency in search of a longer deal and a bigger guarantee.

The results have been mostly good so far, through 10 2/3 innings. His 15.2% walk rate is way too high but his 32.6% strikeout rate is a nice bounceback after it dropped to 25% last year. Obviously, a major elbow injury would kill that plan, so this will hopefully be just a minor issue and eventual footnote in his season.

Suárez, 36, began the season with the O’s on a minor league deal. His contract was selected a few days into the season. He spent close to a month in the bullpen as a long reliever, tossing 13 innings over five appearances with a 3.46 ERA.

Despite those pretty solid results, he was squeezed off the roster a few days ago. He cleared waivers and then elected free agency on Wednesday. It was reported at that time that he and the O’s would likely work out a new minor league deal. According to Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com, his new minor league deal was approved just a few hours ago. He was initially going to join the Norfolk Tides in Nashville before being rerouted to be added to the big league roster as a replacement for Helsley.

Photo courtesy of Mitch Stringer, Imagn Images