BALTIMORE—With Kyle Bradish starting on Thursday against the New York Yankees and John Means returning to the rotation on Saturday to face the Cincinnati Reds, Albert Suárez will be moving to the Orioles’ bullpen.
Suárez, who’s 1-0 with a 2.35 earned-run average, will have an undefined role in the bullpen, manager Brandon Hyde said.
“It’s up for grabs now,” Hyde said. “It’s wait-and-see. With starting pitching and how things are, I’m interested in seeing what it looks like in different ways, but he’s also a starter candidate if we go to a six-man [rotation] down the road. All different types of roles. Right now, he’s a wild card for us in the bullpen.”
Hyde is happy about the return of Bradish, who was on the 15-day injured list with a right ulnar collateral ligament sprain.
“You feel nervous every time some guys take the mound right now,” Hyde said. “We feel great about the progress Kyle’s made, and how he’s feeling, all the boxes that he checked, and how the rehab went. I know he’s excited to be out there today, and it’s going to be fun watching him pitch.”
Bradish had a 3.97 ERA in three rehab starts for Double-A Bowie and Triple-A Norfolk.
“Definitely going to be monitoring closely,” Hyde said. “Any time a guy misses a significant amount of time and has his first start back, the adrenaline level and everything is just different at the big league level. Doesn’t’ matter how many minor league rehab starts you made. This is a little bit different. We’re always going to be watching closely.”