Since John Means left his start last week with elbow discomfort, fear of the worst-case scenario was immediate.
Means, the Orioles’ ace during the club’s rebuild, had spent the previous two years recovering from Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery and overcoming setbacks along the way. When he rejoined Baltimore’s rotation in early May, he hoped the elbow injury was behind him, but his exit from his start last week in St. Louis raised concerns that it wasn’t.
The worst-case scenario was realized Friday, but Means isn’t the only former Tommy John surgery recipient who will need to go under the knife again.
Means and Tyler Wells will both have elbow surgery in June to repair the ulnar collateral ligaments in their throwing elbows, general manager Mike Elias announced Friday before the Orioles’ game against the Tampa Bay Rays at Camden Yards. Both pitchers will miss the remainder of the season and likely the start of the 2025 campaign.
“It’s a very unfortunate situation for us, for them,” Elias said. “Tough news for everybody. But, we’ll take great care of them and get them back to their skill levels in due time.”
Elias said the team won’t know what type of surgery the pitchers will get to repair their UCLs a second time until closer to their respective procedures, which he said will take place “really soon.” Elias did not name specific types of procedures they could undergo, but he didn’t rule out Tommy John, which normally requires a 12-to-18 month recovery. An internal brace procedure, which reinforces the UCL with a tape-like suture, is an alternative to Tommy John that is becoming more common among MLB pitchers.
“This is tough news for both of these guys,” Elias added. “They’ve got a lot of time and work ahead of them now. Rehabbing is very lonely and it’s a lot different than playing up here every day. It’s not something that you want to see anybody that plays this game go through, but it’s unfortunately a big part of being a pitcher right now. They’re both really tough guys that have overcome this before, and they still have youth on their side.”
Manager Brandon Hyde said the news is a “big blow.”
“It’s really disappointing,” Hyde said. “Two guys you really pull for. We were hoping for better news, and I’m just disappointed for them personally not to be able to pitch for us this year and be with us.”
The Orioles’ starting pitching depth has been one of their strengths this season. It’s also kept the club afloat as Means and Kyle Bradish missed the beginning of the season, Wells injured his elbow in mid-April and Grayson Rodriguez and Dean Kremer have missed time with minor arm injuries.
Now that depth isn’t so deep. With Means and Wells out for the season, the Orioles are down to five starting options on their 26-man roster with Kremer on the 15-day injured list and a few options in Triple-A. It could also open the possibility of acquiring a starting pitcher at the trade deadline.
“Knock on wood, I still feel pretty good about the starting pitching options that we have at the moment,” Elias said. “But we’ll obviously monitor things and continue to see what happens both internally and externally over the next couple of months before closing the book on our starting situation.”
The overall health of the Orioles’ pitching staff remains a concern, though. In 2023, Baltimore had the fifth-fewest days on the IL in MLB. None of the seven pitchers who started five or more games were placed on the IL with an arm injury. This year, five Orioles starters have injured their arms, proving a team’s injuries year-to-year are fickle.
However, the injuries make the acquisition of ace Corbin Burnes this offseason even more important. Burnes has been a stabilizing force atop Baltimore’s rotation, ranking seventh in the AL with a 2.35 ERA and registering a quality start in each of his past seven outings.
It’s not just Burnes, though, as the Orioles’ rotation ranks third in MLB with a 3.03 ERA. Bradish, who missed the beginning of the season with a partially torn UCL for which he received platelet-rich plasma injections, has a 1.75 ERA through his first five starts, including seven no-hit innings Sunday. Rodriguez missed a few weeks with a shoulder injury, but he’s recorded a 3.53 ERA this season, carrying over his dominant second half last year into his sophomore campaign.
Kremer (4.32 ERA) is out with a triceps strain, but Elias said he isn’t “worried” about the right-hander, who could be back in late June after a few minor league rehabilitation outings. Cole Irvin has bounced back from his up-and-down 2023 campaign with a 2.84 ERA as one of the Orioles’ most consistent starters, while Albert Suárez sports a sparkling 1.53 ERA across four starts and seven relief outings.
“It sure looks pretty solid to me,” Elias said.
Means, 31, was an All-Star in 2019, threw a no-hitter in 2021 and has a career 3.68 ERA. But since 2022, he’s started only 10 games after undergoing Tommy John surgery in April 2022, returning to start four games at the end of 2023 and taking the mound four times this year. The left-hander was back to his old self to begin his 2024 campaign, posting a 2.61 ERA with 16 strikeouts versus two walks in 20 2/3 innings.
“You saw the work that he put in going into last year,” Hyde said, “finishing the season so strong for us and pitched so well down the stretch. It was incredibly rewarding for him. … It’s tough. It’s tough mentally. It’s true adversity. It’s hard to deal with, so to see him go through all that … it’s incredibly disappointing.”
It’s possible Means has pitched his final game as an Oriole, as the southpaw is set to become a free agent this offseason. After his first elbow surgery, the club signed him to a two-year contract to assure he’d remain in the organization as he recovered. The Orioles did the same with closer Félix Bautista last year after the All-Star closer underwent Tommy John surgery.
“I think the first step is taking care of this,” Elias said of Means’ recovery. “We’re going to support him and we have a long relationship. He’s a special member of this organization just given everything that he’s done.”
Wells, 29, joined the organization as a Rule 5 draft pick in 2020 after he missed the previous two seasons recovering from Tommy John surgery. He ended his 2021 campaign as the team’s closer and was the Orioles’ best starting pitcher in the first half of both the 2022 and 2023 campaigns. He led the American League in WHIP in 2023’s first half, but he ran out of gas in July, was optioned to the minors and returned in September as a reliever, closing out the Orioles’ AL East title-clinching win.
Wells, who has a career 4.06 ERA, opened this season in the Orioles’ rotation, but he was placed on the 15-day IL after his third start. Hyde was “optimistic” about Wells’ recovery and that the 6-foot-8 right-hander was placed on the IL for “precautionary reasons.” But Elias said Wells’ attempts to begin a throwing program ended in discomfort, and after trying “conservative methods,” the organization decided surgery was the best course of action. Wells has three more years of arbitration remaining before he hits free agency.
The injuries could mean Suárez, who starts Friday against the Rays, will remain in Baltimore’s rotation, although the Orioles have Triple-A pitching prospects Cade Povich and Chayce McDermott, who Elias said are “starting to knock on the door.” Hyde also said the club is still considering a six-man rotation.
Mike Elias said Cade Povich & Chayce McDermott are "really close."
With the recent injury news, here is a look at the five types of pitchers — from prospect starters to prospect relievers to depth options — Baltimore could call up this year: https://t.co/xxvp7V0biS
— Jacob Calvin Meyer (@jcalvinmeyer) May 31, 2024
Povich, who Baseball America ranks as the Orioles’ No. 2 pitching prospect, appears to be first in line after his scorching-hot start to the season. The left-hander has a 2.35 ERA and a 32.9% strikeout rate through 10 starts with the Norfolk Tides.
“Cade is definitely a guy who’s on the tip of our tongues right now,” Elias said. “He’s put himself in position for that type of consideration, and it’s something that’s become kind of a daily conversation for us.”
McDermott, the club’s No. 1 pitching prospect, had a rough start to his season but is perhaps the best swing-and-miss pitcher in the organization with a 35.2% strikeout rate.
“Anyone who’s pitching well in Triple-A,” Elias said, “you’re a phone call away.”
Around the horn
• Elias said corner infield prospect Coby Mayo could begin swinging a bat in the next few days. Mayo, the Orioles’ No. 3 prospect, suffered a fractured rib after he fell into the third base dugout while trying to catch a popup with Norfolk. The 22-year-old was hitting .291 with an impressive .964 OPS before the injury. “Hopefully this will be behind us in a few weeks,” Elias said.
• Hyde hopes Jordan Westburg will return in the “next couple days” after the infielder missed Wednesday’s game and didn’t start Friday’s after taking a 95.5 mph fastball off his hand/wrist Tuesday.