BALTIMORE — Before the Orioles concluded a three-game set with the New York Yankees on Wedneday, they lost another player to an injury.
A day after straining his right oblique while taking batting practice at Camden Yards, outfielder Dylan Beaver was placed on the 10-day injured list. The 24-year-old rookie underwent an MRI Wednesday morning and was placed on the IL roughly 30 minutes prior to first pitch of the 7-0 win over New York. The Orioles recalled reserve catcher Maverick Handley to take his place on the 26-man roster.
Though the organization doesn’t regard Beavers’ injury as overly serious, it’s worth noting catcher Adley Rutschman missed just over a month for each of his two oblique strains suffered last season.
“Low grade is the term. He’s feeling good, relatively speaking,” manager Craig Albernaz said. “It’s not like it’s one of those ones where when you’re walking around, you’re wincing. He’s moving around fine. Again, I don’t like timelines, but kind of encouraged with how he’s feeling today.”
Beavers owned a slash line of .283/.377/.478 over his last 54 plate appearances, making his absence the latest disappointment in the injury department for this franchise. The high volume of injuries over the last couple seasons has led to increased outside scrutiny about the club’s strength, conditioning, and training programs, and Albernaz alluded to having his own concerns regarding injury prevention.
Baltimore currently has 13 players on the IL, which ranks third in the majors behind only Detroit (15) and Houston (14). Seven Orioles players are on the 60-day IL.
“We’ve got to look at things differently, do things differently,” said Albernaz, who is in his first season with the organization. “Whatever’s been done, we’ve got to try to do whatever and evaluate every aspect to make sure that we’re taking care of our guys and we’re doing the right thing around here. That’s something where I’m challenging the whole staff on. That’s a point of emphasis right now.
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“But all our guys getting hurt, it stinks. It sucks. You feel for the guys that are hurt, but also, it gives opportunity to somebody else. That’s why all of our guys have to be ready at any point in time to take on the challenge, whether it be here with us in Baltimore or guys in Norfolk and so on. You never know when your name’s going to be called and have an opportunity. You’ve got to be ready for it.”
Beavers is batting .243 with two homers, seven doubles, 12 RBIs, and a .699 on-base plus slugging percentage in 119 plate appearances this season.
Meanwhile, infielder Jordan Westburg continues to weigh his options regarding the partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. He met with Dr. Neal ElAttrache earlier this week after being shut down from throwing last week.
Westburg, 27, has been out since February when he received a platelet-rich plasma injection in hopes of avoiding season-ending elbow surgery.
