BALTIMORE— Tyler Wells had elbow surgery last June, and is on the 60-day injured list. The Orioles right-hander is rehabbing the elbow.
“It’s just continue to progress through the mound phase,” Wells said before the Orioles’ scheduled game with Minnesota was rained out on Tuesday. “Continue to just building up before it’s time, hopefully, to get into games. Right now, it’s just the buildup process.”
Wells doesn’t know how soon he might get into games.
“It’s a very fluid situation,” he said. “It’s all based on how everything continues to bounce back and feel. It’s really that day-to-day process. Everything’s been feeling great. Everything’s been good. Really happy with where I’m at with my bullpens, how everything’s been feeling, how everything’s been bouncing back. So far, so good.”
Wells is one of 10 on the injured list. He’s one of five Orioles—right-handers Kyle Bradish, Grayson Rodriguez and Albert Suárez and outfielder Colton Cowser — on the 60-day IL.
Bradish had Tommy John surgery last June. He’s been progressing well, according to executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias. It’s possible that Bradish and Wells will be able to pitch in the second half of the season.
The Orioles hope that Rodriguez will be able to pitch this season. He hasn’t pitched since March 5th when he faced the Twins in Fort Myers. Though his injury is listed as right elbow inflammation, Elias referred to a lat injury when he spoke on May 2nd.
“He’s still healing,” Elias said. “We’ve got to let his lat heal and once that happens we’ll do some reimaging and that may happen in the next couple of weeks. And if that looks OK, it’s possible that he’s throwing a baseball before the end of this month, but then we’ve got a long way to go.”
Suárez, who has a rotator cuff injury, does not appear close to returning.
Cowser, who fractured his left thumb diving into first base on March 30th in Toronto, is no longer wearing protection on the thumb and is in the early stages of baseball activity. He won’t be eligible to return until May 30th.
Infielder Ramón Urías, who was in the Orioles’ clubhouse on Tuesday, could be activated on Wednesday. He’s been out with a right hamstring strain.
Infielder Jordan Westburg, who has a strained left hamstring, was supposed to begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Norfolk last weekend but had a setback. Manager Brandon Hyde hoped he’d be ready to play for Norfolk later this week, although Westburg declined to offer a prediction on Tuesday.
Reliever Andrew Kittredge, who had cartilage removed from his left knee, has thrown three times, twice for Norfolk and once for High-A Aberdeen. His return does not seem far away.
Catcher Gary Sánchez, out with right wrist inflammation, isn’t close to returning, and Hyde didn’t have any news last week on right-handed reliever Cody Poteet, who has right shoulder inflammation.
Outfielder Enrique Bradfield Jr., who’s on Double-A Chesapeake’s injured list with a strained left hamstring, continues his rehab assignment with Aberdeen. Bradfield, the Orioles’ third-ranked prospect by MLB Pipeline, has played three games for the Florida Complex League Orioles.
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