ARLINGTON, Texas—Relief pitcher Danny Coulombe, who had surgery to remove bone chips in his left elbow on June 18th, is visiting with the Orioles this weekend.
“It’s going along really well. I feel like it’s right on track,” Coulombe said about his rehab, which is taking place in Sarasota. “We’re pretty optimistic about it.”
Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias said that he thought Coulombe, who is 1-0 with a 2.42 earned-run average and one save in 20 games and hasn’t allowed any of his 12 inherited runners to score, could return in September.
“I don’t want to give a timeline now. We’re just taking it day-by-day,” Coulombe said. “We feel like it’s right on track. I think the timeline he gave you guys was pretty much right what we’re looking for.”
Coulombe is working out in Sarasota with Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells, both of whom had season-ending elbow surgery last month.
”When you’re in Sarasota, you just feel a little disconnected from the team,” Coulombe said. “You’re not with the team, traveling every day. You get to come around here and just be around the guys. Catching up with them is great, getting to watch some baseball is fun.”
Coulombe’s diagnosis wasn’t a shock.
“It didn’t surprise me,” he said. “Just some of the stuff that was going on with my arm. When it swelled up like it did, we just kind of knew there was something. It was just a spot in the elbow that we knew was not a bad spot. We had a good idea it was going to be bone chips.
“When we looked what we were going to do with it, we said, obviously there are a few ways to go through it. We just thought the best way to do it was be back by the end of the season and not risk it reoccurring six weeks down the road and missing the rest of the season, doing the best for the team.”
Coulombe is working on range of motion exercises. “Hopefully, soon we can play some catch and just get it rolling.”
He says he watches every inning of every game.
“It’s not fun watching from a distance,” he said. “We’re competitors. We want to go out and be part of a team.”