Don’t slide into first base when trying to beat out a hit, everybody.
The update is in on Colton Cowser’s injured thumb and it’s bad. The Orioles announced on Monday morning that Cowser has been placed on the 10-day injured list due to a fractured left thumb. As a corresponding move, outfielder Dylan Carlson has been recalled from Triple-A Norfolk.
Cowser suffered the injury during Sunday’s game against the Blue Jays as he did a head-first slide into first base while trying to pick up an infield single. Not only was the attempt not successful because the friction of hitting the dirt slowed his momentum, Cowser managed to have his thumb impact the base in such a way that he suffered the fracture. Although he was able to stay in a couple more innings for defense, the next time he batted, the Orioles pinch hit for him. The thumb, we now know, was broken.
Update: Manager Brandon Hyde said Monday afternoon that it’s going to be at least a 6-8 week absence for Cowser. He needs to not turn this “suffer self-inflicted injury to break a bone in his hand” thing into a pattern.
The 26-year-old switch-hitting Carlson was one of the modest Orioles free agent acquisitions over the offseason. He was good once, four years ago, then his performance crashed and he fell out of favor in his old organization, St. Louis. Maybe a change of scenery will do him some good. He had a good spring training, for whatever that turns out to be worth.
It remains to be seen how the Orioles will allocate the actual playing time for as long as Cowser is out. Do they just plug in fourth outfielder Ramón Laureano as the regular left fielder, even though Laureano was mostly here to be a platoon partner for lefties Cowser and Cedric Mullins? Do they keep Laureano in the reserve role and give either Carlson or, dare I say, Heston Kjerstad the outfield starts? With how they have treated Kjerstad to date, it is tough to imagine them suddenly putting him in left field regularly. He deserves it, but deserve often has nothing to do with it.
A further roster wrinkle is that Gunnar Henderson is eligible to come off the injured list on April 3, so the Orioles might decide to send Carlson back to the minors as the corresponding move when Henderson returns. Most recent in, first guy sent back out, would be the theory there.
This is assuming that Henderson returns as soon as he’s eligible, which isn’t guaranteed yet. He’s been shaky on defense in his rehab assignment with Norfolk and maybe needs a few more games to get rid of the rust down there. That’s a problem for another day.