The misery of a lost 2025 season won’t relent as the Orioles placed closer Felix Bautista on the 15-day injured list with a sore right shoulder on Thursday.
Manager Tony Mansolino revealed after Wednesday’s 3-2 loss in Cleveland that Bautista was unavailable to pitch and later told reporters the right-hander began feeling discomfort while going through his preliminary warm-up routine to be ready to pitch if called upon in the late innings. The 2023 All-Star reliever is expected to undergo an MRI on Friday.
It’s worth noting Bautista, 30, labored through a season-high 34 pitches to earn the save in last Sunday’s 5-3 win over Tampa Bay, an outing in which Statcast tracked his average fastball velocity being down 1.4 mph from his season mark of 97.2. He also issued a season-worst three walks in the outing, which had been his first appearance since before the All-Star break on July 10.
Friday will mark exactly 23 months since Bautista injured his right elbow in a game against Colorado and eventually underwent Tommy John surgery, which caused him to miss the remainder of the 2023 season as well as the entire 2024 campaign. In 34 2/3 innings this season, he’s pitched to a 2.60 ERA while converting 19 of his 20 save opportunities and striking out 50 batters.
There had been speculation that the Orioles might entertain trading Bautista — who remains under club control through 2027 — if a suitor made the right kind of lucrative offer, but Thursday’s news certainly eliminated whatever unlikely chance that had of occurring before the July 31 trade deadline.
Baltimore recalled right-hander Kade Strowd from Triple-A Norfolk to take Bautista’s place on the 26-man roster.
