BALTIMORE—Adley Rutschman has been placed on the 10-day injured list with a strained right oblique. The move is retroactive to Monday. Rutschman missed about five weeks earlier this season with a strained left oblique. He was scratched from the Orioles’ lineup on Tuesday night in Boston.
Interim manager Tony Mansolino declined to put a timetable on Rutschman’s possible return this season since there are just over five weeks remaining in the season.
“Hard to speculate on that,” Mansolino said. “I think it’s similar. My understanding is that it’s low-grade, very mild. Knowing Adley, how I know him, he’s going to do everything he can to get back and play at some point this year. I don’t think he’ll be one to pack it in and shut it down. If the injury is bad enough, then so be it. We’re hopeful, optimistic that there’s a possibility that we will see him again.”
Without Rutschman, Samuel Basallo will be the Orioles’ primary catcher with Alex Jackson in reserve.
“Sammy will be thrusted in the everyday role,” Mansolino said. “Sammy will catch, which means when you have an everyday catcher, they don’t catch seven in a row. That’s not how this thing goes…In my mind, it will be a couple of days, then be off. We’ll go from there.
“We might see him at first base at some point. I’m not sure if we’re going to be doing that quite yet just because he’s going to be spending so much time behind the dish and trying to learn how to be a catcher in the big leagues, call the right pitches for a brand-new staff, essentially.”
Mansolino wants to be careful with Basallo and will try to sit him when Jackson plays.
“We’re going to have to take our off days as off days and make sure he stays healthy,” he said. “He also has a little bit of a track record on the injury list, so my guess is that of these eight games at home, we’ll probably see him catch five or six of them, maybe a DH, maybe a first base, but there’s going to be off days, too the same all everyday catchers, too.”
The Orioles recalled outfielder Daniel Johnson from Triple-A Norfolk to replace Rutschman on the roster. Mansolino said that he preferred having an extra outfielder rather than a third catcher on the roster.
Maverick Handley, who was with the Orioles earlier this season before suffering a concussion and a sprained right wrist, is back catching at Triple-A Norfolk.
“There are some days when you have them both in there, but it won’t be very often,” Mansolino said. “I’d rather have the outfielder.”
Gary Sánchez, who’s on the 10-day injured list with a sprained right knee, won’t be available until mid-September, at best.
Westburg avoids injured list—for now
Infielder Jordan Westburg is not in the lineup, and hasn’t been put on the injured list.
“I’m hoping we can avoid an IL,” Mansolino said. “Optimistic, slightly [that] there might be another scenario that he misses four, five, six days and we try to save those last four days instead of taking the 10-day penalty of the IL. We’ll see. He is feeling better.”
The Orioles have utilityman Vimael Machin on the medical taxi squad.
Mansolino feels for Bautista
On Wednesday, the Orioles announced that Félix Bautista had surgery to repair his rotator cuff and right labrum. He’ll miss the 12 months. In October 2023, he had Tommy John surgery.
“This is tough for Félix,” Mansolino said. “We just feel for Félix. It’s sad in some ways. The good news is we have a great medical staff and great people in the medical world that are going to get him back to being himself at some point. It’s just going to take a little bit of time.”
Wells does well in rehab start
Tyler Wells allowed two runs on six hits in 5 2/3 innings in Norfolk’s 3-2 loss to Charlotte. Wells struck out four and walked one and threw 85 pitches. Mansolino says Wells will have one more rehab appearance and he expects him to join the Orioles, perhaps when another pitcher will be added to the roster on September 1st.
Note: The Orioles claimed left-hander Josh Walker off waivers from Philadelphia and optioned him to Norfolk. Walker had a 7.20 ERA in three games with the Phillies. In 27 games with the Mets and Phillies in the last three seasons, Walker is 0-1 with a 6.59 ERA.
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