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Kyle Bradish

Royals Trade Colin Selby To Orioles

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The Orioles announced Thursday that they’ve acquired right-hander Colin Selby from the Royals in exchange for cash. He’s been optioned to Triple-A Norfolk. Kansas City had recently designated Selby for assignment. The O’s transferred Kyle Bradish from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day injured list to open a spot on the 40-man roster.

Selby, 26, pitched just three big league innings for the Royals this season, allowing a pair of runs in that short time. Kansas City acquired Selby from Pittsburgh back in April, sending minor league southpaw Connor Oliver to the Pirates in return. Selby pitched 24 innings with the Bucs last year but was tagged for 24 runs in that time. To date, he’s allowed 26 earned runs in 27 MLB frames.

Obviously, that’s a poor track record but also a small sample at the game’s top level. But the former 16th-round pick is no stranger to minor league success, having posted excellent numbers at the Double-A level in addition to some decent but inconsistent results in Triple-A. Selby notched a sub-4.00 ERA with a 30.8% strikeout rate for Pittsburgh’s Triple-A club last season but has struggled to a 5.32 ERA in 20 Triple-A frames between Indianapolis and Omaha this year.

Missing bats is nothing new for Selby, who’s punched out 25.6% of his career minor league opponents. That includes some lesser strikeout rates in the lower minors when he was still working as a starter. Since moving up to the Double-A level and shifting exclusively to a relief role, Selby has fanned 29.8% of the batters he’s faced. His bat-missing arsenal, as is often the case, is accompanied by troubling command woes, however. He’s dished out a free pass to 12.5% of his combined Double-A/Triple-A opponents and plunked another five hitters. Between those walks and HBPs, he’s given first base away to about 14% of the hitters he’s faced in the upper minors.

Selby is in the second of three minor league option years and doesn’t yet have a full season of MLB service under his belt. If the O’s can get him straightened out, he’ll be optionable again next season and under club control for a full six seasons. There’s quite a ways to go before that’s even a plausible situation, but Baltimore has a knack for coaxing strong relief work from unheralded acquisitions. Their track record isn’t spotless, of course, but the O’s have unlocked next-level performances from Yennier Cano, Danny Coulombe, Cionel Perez and Jacob Webb, among others, despite middling to nonexistent track records at their time of acquisition.

Kyle Bradish Undergoes Tommy John Surgery

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Orioles general manager Mike Elias informed reporters that right-hander Kyle Bradish underwent Tommy John surgery with an internal brace today. He’ll be out for the rest of this year and part of 2025 as well. Danielle Allentuck of the Baltimore Banner was among those to relay the news on X. Additionally, left-hander Danny Coulombe had bone chips removed from his elbow, per Allentuck on X. The southpaw could return this year but is likely out until September.

The Bradish news is a brutal blow for the club’s rotation. He had a tremendous breakout season with the O’s last year, making 30 starts with a 2.83 earned run average. He struck out 25% of batters faced, limited walks to a 6.6% rate and got grounders at a 49.2% clip.

Things got scary here in 2024, as Bradish was diagnosed with a sprain of his UCL in mid-February. The club initially tried non-surgical interventions and seemed to have some success. Bradish was given a platelet-rich plasma injection and was showing “accelerated healing” by early March, per Bradish himself.

Things seemed to accelerate fairly normally from there. Bradish was able to start a rehab assignment by the second week of April and was reinstated from the injured list in early May. He made eight starts for the big league club with a 2.75 ERA. But he landed back on the injured list last week, again due to a sprain of his UCL, with surgery apparently unavoidable this time around.

In hindsight, it would be easy to dismiss the past four months as simply delaying the inevitable, but pitchers have suffered UCL injuries and avoided surgery before. Masahiro Tanaka was diagnosed with a partially torn UCL in 2014, for instance, but never got it repaired and went on to pitch between 150 and 200 innings in each of the five following seasons. Seth Lugo was also found to have a slight tear in 2017 but didn’t go under the knife. More recently, Triston McKenzie was diagnosed with a UCL sprain last summer but has made 14 starts for the Guardians this year.

Given the 14 to 18 months of recovery that are generally needed after Tommy John surgery, pitchers and teams usually prefer to exhaust non-surgical options before surrendering to the surgeon’s table. The O’s and Bradish believed they had a path open to them and tried to take it, but unfortunately couldn’t make it work in this instance.

This is now the third starting pitcher that the Orioles have lost to season-ending UCL surgery this year, as both Tyler Wells and John Means went down this road before Bradish. Despite those losses, the rotation has been a strength overall. Baltimore starter’s have a combined ERA of 3.03 this year, which trails only the Yankees and Phillies. But maintaining such a position without those three will be a challenge.

As of now, the O’s are left with Corbin Burnes, Grayson Rodriguez, Cole Irvin, Cade Povich and Albert Suárez in the rotation, but it seems fair to expect the O’s to pursue additions prior to the July 30 deadline. Povich has just two major league starts under his belt so far. Irvin has a 3.03 ERA on the year but is only striking out 17.9% of batters faced. His 4.16 SIERA this year and his career ERA of 4.24 perhaps suggest some regression is coming. Suárez has a 2.05 ERA but is a 34-year-old journeyman with a 19.7% strikeout rate and 81.9% strand rate.

Dean Kremer should be rejoining that group shortly, as he is on the injured list but currently on a rehab assignment. However, he’s more of a solid back-end guy, with an ERA of 4.35 in his career and a mark of 4.32 this year. In terms of depth options, Levi Stoudt was just claimed off waivers but has a 6.92 ERA in Triple-A this year. Bruce Zimmermann is on the 40-man but hasn’t pitched since mid-May. Jonathan Heasley is also on the roster but has been working as a swingman in the minors.

Last week, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported that the club would be waiting until closer to the deadline to decide on their starting pitching approach. With Bradish now out for the year, that will presumably increase their desire to pursue starting pitching in the months to come. In the meantime, Bradish will be transferred to the 60-day injured list whenever the O’s need his roster spot. He’ll spent the rest of the year on the shelf and will qualify for arbitration this offseason as a Super Two player.

The news on Coulombe isn’t as bad but is still significant. The lefty has a career ERA of 3.57 and that mark is just 2.68 since joining the O’s prior to the 2023 season. He has thrown 77 1/3 innings since coming to Baltimore, striking out 28.5% of batters faced while limiting walks to a 5% clip.

He landed on the IL a week ago due to left elbow inflammation and it now seems he’s going to miss several months, leaving the Orioles with Cionel Pérez, Keegan Akin and Nick Vespi as southpaws in their bullpen.

Like Bradish, Coulombe will be a candidate to be moved to the 60-day IL whenever the O’s need a roster spot for someone else. The two sides avoided an arbitration hearing by agreeing to a one-year deal with a club option in January. That option has a $4MM base salary and escalators that start at 50 appearances. He’s made 29 appearances so far this year but won’t be able to get that number up to 50 if he’s out until September. He will cross six years of service by the end of the season and be a free agent if the O’s decline that option.

Orioles Place Kyle Bradish On 15-Day IL With Right UCL Sprain

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1:56PM: Hyde told Roch Kubatko and other reporters that Bradish is undergoing further tests and will visit multiple doctors before determining his next course of action, whether it’s surgery or another attempt at a non-surgical recovery.

12:20PM: Bradish has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to a right UCL sprain, the Orioles announced.  In the best case scenario, this would represent 2.5 months on the shelf for Bradish, replicating his absence in the early part of the season.  However, the pretty quick decision to return Bradish to the IL after last night’s game is an ominous sign towards a longer-term absence.  Left-hander Nick Vespi was called up from Triple-A in the corresponding roster move.

10:35AM: Kyle Bradish left yesterday’s game after five innings due to soreness in his right elbow, and Orioles manager Brandon Hyde told reporters (including MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko) that more will be known once Bradish undergoes examination.  Bradish had allowed two earned runs over five innings and 74 pitches against the Phillies, but “he came to us and said his elbow was bothering him, so we’re going to get further tests on that….He had to come out of the game after that inning,” Hyde said.

Any type of elbow injury is cause for concern, though Bradish’s situation is particularly troublesome since he was already sidelined with a sprained UCL earlier this year.  That past injury developed early in Spring Training, so Bradish’s season debut was delayed until May 2 since he had to both get healthy and then start his spring ramp-up work from scratch.

Considering that there were initial concerns that Bradish might need a Tommy John surgery, an early-May return was a huge relief for both the right-hander and the Orioles, and Bradish’s strong performance on the mound further allayed any fears prior to last night.  Bradish has a 2.75 ERA over eight starts and 39 1/3 innings, and is among the league’s elite in such key categories as strikeout rate (32.5%), hard-hit ball rate (28.6%) and grounder rate (56%).  While his walk rate had dropped below average, Bradish looked like he was continuing the front-of-the-rotation form that he displayed during his 2023 breakout season.

It could be that Bradish has again dodged a bullet if his elbow is simply sore, and some discomfort might’ve been inevitable given the circumstances behind his start to the season.  That said, the O’s have taken a conservative approach to Bradish’s deployment — he has received the traditional four days of rest between starts only once, and otherwise had five or more days of rest between all of his other starts.  Before yesterday, Bradish’s previous start was on June 8, so he had five full days to rest before taking on the Phillies.

Even if the tests come back clean, the Orioles might consider placing Bradish on the 15-day injured list anyway simply as a precautionary measure.  Baltimore has an off-day on Monday, but then enters a stretch of 13 games in as many days, so Bradish’s absence would further stretch a rotation that has already been thinned by injuries.  John Means (Tommy John surgery) and Tyler Wells (UCL surgery) have both been lost for the season, while Dean Kremer has been on the IL for about four weeks with a strained triceps.  Kremer is set to begin a Triple-A rehab assignment on Sunday, so he could be an option to return to the rotation in the next week or two.

Even amidst all of these injuries, the Orioles have still fielded one of the sport’s better rotations, and have even had enough depth to use a six-man rotation to help manage everyone’s innings.  If Bradish will miss time, Baltimore still has a starting five of Corbin Burnes, Grayson Rodriguez, Cole Irvin, Albert Suarez, and Cade Povich, plus some extra depth in the upper minors.  (The team added to that depth with its acquisition of Levi Stoudt two days ago.)

Of course, losing Bradish for even a short amount of time is a blow to a Baltimore team that is fighting the Yankees for first place in the AL East, and a longer-term injury will hamper the Orioles’ World Series aspirations.  The O’s were already expected to be looking for both rotation and bullpen help at the trade deadline, and a greater need for starters might result in more of prospect cost in deals.

Orioles Reinstate Kyle Bradish, Designate Yohan Ramírez

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The Orioles announced today that right-hander Kyle Bradish has been reinstated from the injured list and will start today’s game. To open a roster spot for him, righty Yohan Ramírez has been designated for assignment.

Bradish has been on the injured list all season and will be making his season debut today. While missing more than a month to start the year is less than ideal, it’s essentially a best-case scenario when considering where things stood a few months back. Bradish was diagnosed with a sprained ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow in the middle of February, which naturally led to worries about Tommy John surgery and an absence of more than a year.

But the righty receive a platelet-rich plasma injection and began a throwing program shortly thereafter.  A few weeks later, general manager Mike Elias said that subsequent MRIs had shown “accelerated healing” of the ligament. Bradish began a rehab assignment a couple of weeks ago and made three starts, tossing 3 innings, then 3 1/3, then 5 frames.

Considering the scary diagnosis from the winter, seeing Bradish return to a big league mound just a few months later is just about the best outcome that could have been imagined. He had a huge breakout for the O’s last year, making 30 starts and finishing the year with a 2.83 earned run average. He struck out 25% of batters faced, walking opponents at a 6.6% rate while keeping 49.2% of balls in play on the ground. He finished fourth in American League Cy Young voting.

Getting that kind of production back in the rotation will be key for the Orioles, as their starting staff has been in constant flux this year. Both Bradish and John Means started the season on the injured list. Tyler Wells and Grayson Rodriguez have gone on the IL in recent weeks, though Means and Bradish have now both been activated. That leaves the club with a rotation of Bradish, Means, Corbin Burnes, Cole Irvin and Dean Kremer, with Albert Suárez likely bumped into a long relief role.

Despite the various injuries, the club has weathered the storm well. They are currently 19-11, one of the best records in baseball so far this year. Their starting staff has a collective ERA of 3.58 at the moment, which places them 10th in the majors.

The activation of Bradish will cost Ramírez his roster spot. It’s now possible that he will celebrate his birthday in DFA limbo, as he turns 29 on Monday. The righty has bounced around the league quite a bit in his career, having gone from the Mariners to the Guardians, Pirates, White Sox, Mets and Orioles over the past few years.

His stints with those last three clubs have each been fairly brief. The White Sox claimed him off waivers from the Pirates in September of last year. He was designated for assignment in December and traded to the Mets for cash. He lasted with the Mets through the winter but was designated for assignment just over a week into the season, going to the O’s in another cash deal.

Between the Mets and the Orioles, he has thrown 11 1/3 innings this year with an 8.74 ERA, though a lot of that ERA is due to a five-run outing for the Mets just before they cut him loose. He has struck out 22.2% of batters faced this year while walking 11.1%. He is out of options, so the only way for the O’s to clear him from the active roster was to remove him from the 40-man entirely.

They will now have a week to trade him or pass him through waivers. He now has a career ERA of 4.39 in 135 1/3 innings, going back to his 2020 debut. His 23.1% strikeout rate and 44.2% ground ball rate are both around league average, though his 12.4% walk rate is on the high side.

Orioles Plan To Activate Kyle Bradish From Injured List This Week

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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.

Kyle Bradish To Begin Rehab Assignment

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The Orioles announced yesterday that Kyle Bradish has joined the squad at High-A Aberdeen and will begin a rehab assignment soon. He’s been on the 15-day injured list since the beginning of the season.

The news is surely pleasant for fans of the O’s, especially considering where things stood just a couple of months ago. Back in the middle of February, Bradish was diagnosed with a sprained ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. Since that is the ligament that is repaired in Tommy John surgery, many began to fret that Bradish would need to go under the knife and miss the entire 2024 season and perhaps even part of 2025 as well.

Instead, Bradish received a platelet-rich plasma injection and began a throwing program. Just a few weeks after the initial diagnosis of the sprain, general manager Mike Elias relayed that subsequent MRIs had shown “accelerated healing” of the ligament. The fact that he’s now set to embark on a rehab assignment suggests that things have continued to progress in a positive direction.

The Orioles went into the offseason with a strong roster but the rotation was clearly a relatively weaker part of it. They did make a huge trade to acquire Corbin Burnes but the group still felt a bit lackluster, especially since the O’s could have done more. With a farm system that’s considered by some to be the best in the league and almost no future payroll commitments, they could have done more trading or made a splash in free agency. The latter scenario was especially open to the O’s as starting pitchers languished on the open market well after Bradish’s injury diagnosis, including big names like Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery or even back-of-the-rotation types like Michael Lorenzen.

The injury to Bradish and the continued absence of John Means left Baltimore with a rotation of Burnes, Grayson Rodriguez, Tyler Wells, Dean Kremer and Cole Irvin to open the year. Last year, Irvin had a 4.81 ERA as a starter and got moved to the bullpen frequently. Wells had a 3.64 ERA last year but with an unsustainable .200 batting average on balls in play and 82.6% strand rate, which is why his 4.98 FIP and 4.19 SIERA weren’t as impressive.

With Bradish now on the mend, that group will be bolstered in a few weeks, assuming everything goes smooth with the rehab. Bradish had a 2.98 ERA last year over his 30 starts. He combined a 25% strikeout rate with a 6.6% walk rate and 49.2% ground ball rate, with all three of those being a few ticks better than league average. The O’s have not moved him to the 60-day IL, so he’ll be eligible to be activated as soon as he’s healthy.

If Bradish returns and the other arms in the rotation are also healthy, the club will have to make a decision about who to bump out. Irvin is out of options but he could perhaps move to a long relief role in the bullpen if he’s the one squeezed out of the rotation.

Injury Notes: Lodolo, Cabrera, Garrett, Perez, Means, Bradish

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Nick Lodolo looked sharp today in the first of two planned Triple-A rehab starts.  The Reds southpaw allowed one run in five innings and 77 pitches of work, while striking out eight and allowing two hits and three walks.  After missing most of the 2023 season due to a stress reaction in his left tibia, Lodolo was still feeling some leg soreness this spring, so the Reds started him on the 15-day injured list in order to better ease Lodolo’s path back to action.  Assuming he is feeling healthy after today’s outing and his next rehab start, Lodolo is slated to make his season debut for the Reds on April 10.

More on other pitchers working towards getting healthy….

  • Edward Cabrera also began the season on the 15-day IL, as the Marlins righty was sidelined with an impingement in his throwing shoulder.  As noted by MLB.com, Cabrera threw 39 pitches in a intrasquad scrimmage game earlier this week and a 20-pitch bullpen session on Friday, so the next step is a minor league rehab assignment that begins with a Triple-A start today.  It isn’t yet known how many rehab outings Cabrera might need before he is activated, though of the Marlins’ multiple injured starters, he appears closest to a return.  Braxton Garrett is slated to throw a bullpen session today as he works his way back from his own shoulder impingement, and Garrett intends to be back in action before the end of April.  El Extra Base’s Daniel Alvarez-Montes (X link) notes that Eury Perez threw 20 pitches in a bullpen session today, with Perez on the road to recovery after being waylaid by elbow soreness in Spring Training.
  • While rehab starts are about getting comfortable and working out pitches rather than pure results, John Means had a shaky showing in first rehab start today with Triple-A Norfolk.  The Baltimore Sun’s Matt Weyrich was among those to relay the news that Means gave up seven runs on six hits and a walk over the 32-pitch outing.  Orioles manager Brandon Hyde told MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko and other reporters yesterday that Means’ is “going to be close to 30 days” in Norfolk, as in the maximum length for rehab assignments.  Means missed almost all of the 2022 and 2023 seasons recovering from Tommy John surgery, and the O’s didn’t include him on their playoff roster due to what was reported as elbow soreness at the time.  As Kubatko notes, the Orioles are now referring to the injury as a left forearm strain, which only adds to the extreme caution Means and the O’s are taking in slowly ramping up the southpaw’s workload.
  • A sprain in Kyle Bradish’s right UCL created concerns that Bradish might also miss an extended amount of time, but the Orioles right-hander seems to be making good progress as he is also taking a careful approach to his rehab.  As relayed to Kubatko and other media, Bradish threw all of his pitches over a 35-pitch bullpen session yesterday.  While he “feels really good” in the aftermath of this bullpen, Bradish and Hyde didn’t commit to any kind of timeline about when Bradish will start building towards a return to the active roster.

Julio Teheran Opts Out Of Deal With Orioles

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March 23: Teheran has exercised his opt-out clause, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post. He now figures to return to free agency where he’ll hunt for a new deal that offers him a better chance of receiving playing time in the big leagues.

March 22: Veteran righty Julio Teheran intends to trigger an opt-out clause in his minor league contract with the Orioles if he doesn’t make the Opening Day roster, reports Andy Kostka of the Baltimore Banner (X link). The O’s will need to decide in the next few days whether to give him an MLB spot or let him retest free agency. His contract would come with a $2MM base salary if he makes the team.

Baltimore signed Teheran a little less than one month ago. He has started three of four appearances in camp, allowing five runs with a 7:5 strikeout-to-walk ratio through 9 1/3 innings. There’s not a whole lot to be gleaned from that small sample, although it hasn’t been a resoundingly strong performance.

If Teheran were to make the team, it’d very likely come in a long relief role. O’s manager Brandon Hyde confirmed yesterday that they’ll open the season with a rotation of Corbin Burnes, Grayson Rodriguez, Tyler Wells, Dean Kremer and Cole Irvin (link via Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com). Righty Kyle Bradish and southpaw John Means are each starting the year on the injured list. GM Mike Elias told reporters this afternoon that both pitchers are expected to contribute early in the first half of the upcoming season (X link via MLB.com’s Jake Rill).

The O’s don’t have a ton of flexibility to accommodate a long reliever. Craig Kimbrel, Danny Coulombe, Yennier Cano, Jacob Webb, Cionel Pérez and Dillon Tate should all have bullpen spots secure. Mike Baumann is out of options and has tossed 5 2/3 scoreless frames with six strikeouts this spring. It’d be a surprise if the O’s risked losing him on waivers. That would leave only one spot available. Lefty Keegan Akin still has an option remaining, but he has outpitched Teheran in camp, fanning 10 without allowing a run over 7 1/3 innings.

Teheran worked mostly as a starter a season ago. He opened 11 of 14 appearances as a member of the Brewers. Teheran allowed 4.40 earned runs per nine across 71 2/3 innings. He struck out a below-average 17.4% of opponents while keeping his walks to a pristine 4.5% clip.

Orioles Notes: Mullins, Henderson, Bradish, Rotation

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Orioles center fielder Cedric Mullins exited Monday’s Grapefruit League contest against the Twins with discomfort in his hamstring, the team announced. Mullins drew a leadoff walk and advanced to second base on a grounder. He then walked off the field under his own power two pitches into the next at-bat. Enrique Bradfield Jr. replaced him on the bases.

Fortunately for O’s fans, it seems the situation is relatively minor. Manager Brandon Hyde called Mullins’ exit “precautionary” following the game (X link via Andy Kostka of the Baltimore Banner). Concern is low enough that the team isn’t even planning on performing an MRI or any other imaging to determine if there’s a more serious issue at play. Mullins is considered day-to-day for now, according to Hyde.

The 29-year-old Mullins has been a steady contributor on both sides of the ball for the Orioles over the past three seasons, although the 2023 campaign was his worst and, perhaps not coincidentally, least healthy of the three. Mullins had a pair of IL stints last season due to right groin strains, finishing out the season with a .233/.305/.416 slash (99 wRC+), 15 home runs and 19 stolen bases in 116 games. He missed only nine total games the two seasons prior, batting a combined .274/.339/.460 with 46 big flies and 64 steals. If there’s any sort of setback, infielder/outfielder Jorge Mateo and top outfield prospect Colton Cowser are on hand as options to see time in center field.

Mateo has traditionally been a shortstop, but the team has already suggested that the wealth of infield talent on the Baltimore roster will likely push Mateo into the outfield more frequently in 2024. The fleet-footed Mateo’s primary spot in recent years, shortstop, sounds as though it’ll be handled primarily by reigning AL Rookie of the Year Gunnar Henderson in 2024. While Henderson is capable of playing both shortstop and third base at a high level, the 22-year-old said yesterday that his playing time would be “leaning more toward shortstop” (X link via the Baltimore Sun’s Matt Weyrich).

Henderson has played shortstop, third base and (much more briefly) second base so far in the big leagues. He split his time between the two left-side infield positions nearly evenly in 2023, logging 594 innings at third base and 584 at shortstop. Defensive metrics touted his glovework at both spots, but he drew stronger marks at shortstop (particularly from Defensive Runs Saved, which pegged him at +10). Third base, then, will likely be left to a combination of Jordan Westburg, Ramon Urias and prospect Coby Mayo, though Mateo could also see time there. Current No. 1 overall prospect Jackson Holliday has been playing second base this spring, while each of Westburg and Urias can play basically anywhere in the infield. Mayo’s primary position is third base, though there’s some thought he could eventually move to first base or an outfield corner. Regardless, he’s not yet on the 40-man roster.

Of course, a substantial part of the focus in Orioles camp right now is on right-hander Kyle Bradish, who’s currently attempting a rest/rehab approach to mending a sprain in his right ulnar collateral ligament. Bradish had a platelet-rich plasma injection before the O’s even publicly announced the injury, and Weyrich writes that he’s been throwing pain-free from flat ground.

While general manager Mike Elias struck an optimistic tone, he also preached caution and declined to place a timeline on the right-hander’s potential return. Bradish himself noted that follow-up MRIs have shown “accelerated healing” of the ligament so far, Weyrich writes, though that doesn’t yet mean he’s dodged a long-term absence. Bradish has yet to throw off a mound and currently isn’t throwing at full intensity. The early results are perhaps cause for some cautious optimism, but there’s a ways to go in the process.

For the time being, it doesn’t seem as though Bradish’s injury will prompt the Orioles to make another notable acquisition. Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com downplayed the possibility of the Orioles signing a big-name free agent, writing that the team appears satisfied with its depth at present. Baltimore picked up Julio Teheran on a minor league deal late last week and could give him a look early in the season, but Kubatko more specifically noted that he’d be “floored” to see the O’s pursue an opt-out-laden deal with a top free agent like Jordan Montgomery.

AL Notes: Angels, Bradish, Carrasco

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The Angels infield depth has taken a bit of a hit in recent days, as Sam Blum of The Athletic noted that second baseman Luis Rengifo is dealing with a hamstring issue and pulled himself from yesterday’s team workouts. While Blum notes that Rengifo won’t be participating in baseball activities for the next few days, manager Ron Washington remained “adamant” that Rengifo would be ready for Opening Day. That same certainty doesn’t appear to be present regarding infielder Michael Stefanic, who (as noted by Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register) exited today’s game with a left quad strain and will be re-evaluated tomorrow.

That Rengifo’s hamstring issue doesn’t appear to be serious is surely a relief for Halos fans, as Rengifo is looking to build on last year’s career season in 2024. While shuffling between shortstop, second base, third base, and all three outfield spots last year, the switch hitter managed to hit .264/.339/.444 in 445 trips to the plate. Solid as that production was, Rengifo’s second half last year was even more impressive as he slashed a whopping .318/.374/.587 after the All Star break before his season came to an end in early September due to a biceps issue that ultimately required surgery. That strong second half leaves Rengifo likely to earn the lion’s share of playing time at second base with the Angels this season, so long as he can stay healthy.

As for Stefanic, the 28-year-old has just 50 games of big league experience under his belt across the 2022 and ’23 seasons, though last year he managed to hit a respectable .290/.380/.355 in 71 trips to the plate while splitting time between second and third base. Stefanic entered the spring likely competing with the likes of Kyren Paris and Livan Soto for a spot on the Angels’ bench to open the year alongside the likes of Aaron Hicks, Matt Thaiss, and Jo Adell. With that being said, the club has been frequently connected to utility man Enrique Hernandez and earlier today was reported as one of four finalists for the 32-year-old’s services. Should the Angels succeed in landing Hernandez, that could crowd the club’s bench mix significantly and potential push Stefanic into a depth role at Triple-A to open the season.

More from around the American League…

  • Orioles fans received an encouraging update from GM Mike Elias today regarding right-hander Kyle Bradish, who is rehabbing from a UCL sprain. As noted by Matt Weyrich of the Baltimore Sun, Elias said that while Bradish’s recovery process is “going to take some time,” the club feels that the right-hander’s recovery is “moving in a really positive direction” following the platelet-rich plasma injection he received earlier this month and him resuming his throwing program. Bradish was the club’s ace during his sophomore season in the majors last year, pitching to a sterling 2.83 ERA with a 3.27 FIP across 30 starts. With the righty expected to open the season on the injured list, any time missed by the right-hander is sure to be a blow to the Orioles, though the club’s recent addition of Corbin Burnes should help to mitigate the loss of Bradish.
  • Veteran right-hander Carlos Carrasco made his spring debut for the Guardians today, suiting up for the organization for the first time since he was traded to the Mets alongside Francisco Lindor prior to the 2021 season. Carrasco, who turns 37 next month, struggled to a 6.80 ERA in 20 starts with the Mets last year but told Zack Meisel of The Athletic recently that he hopes to continue pitching through his 40th birthday, following in the footsteps of his former Mets teammates Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer. While it remains to be seen if Carrasco will be able to recapture the form that allowed him to post a 3.41 ERA and 3.16 FIP in 194 games with Cleveland across his final seven seasons with the club, the Guardians were eager to give him the opportunity to earn a spot with the club this spring; Meisel notes that talks regarding a reunion began back in December, well before the deal was reported near the end of January.
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