Orioles’ Holliday to miss Opening Day with hamate bone injury

SARASOTA—Orioles second baseman Jackson Holliday suffered a broken right hamate bone and won’t be ready for the start of the 2026 season, president of baseball operations Mike Elias said on Wednesday.

Holliday suffered the injury during batting practice in Sarasota on Friday and he’ll have the hamate bone removed in Los Angeles on Thursday by Dr. Steven Shin.

“It’s a pretty common baseball injury,” Elias said. “It happens to hitters a lot and it’s nothing concerning long-term, but he’s going to miss some time. Won’t be ready for Opening Day and hopefully his return is measured in weeks after that. You’re not going to see much of him in Sarasota.”

Last year, Holliday was the only regular who wasn’t on the injured list. He played 149 games, hitting .242 with a .690 OPS, 17 home runs and 55 RBIs.

Infielder Jordan Westburg has a strained right oblique and will miss the beginning of Grapefruit League games. The Orioles’ first game is on February 20^th.

Elias said Westburg suffered the injury about three weeks ago.

“He’s turned the corner, and he’s in the process of getting fully better,” Elias said. “He might be a couple of games late to Grapefruit League action. At this time, we do not expect it’s going to threaten his status for Opening Day.”

Reliever Colin Selby has right shoulder inflammation and will start the season on the injured list, Elias said.

Blaze Alexander, who was acquired the day before Holliday suffered his injury, should get more playing time, and Elias didn’t rule out the possibility of acquiring additional utility infielders.

“Maybe there’ll be somebody who’s not in camp here,” Elias said. “I definitely think the internal options that we have, it’s enough to assess for the situation that we’re looking at. I think we’re comfortable there, but we’ll monitor outside. We do have some guys we can reconfigure the playing time to help cover it.” “

Starting pitcher Zach Eflin, who had back surgery last August is a full-go for spring training, Elias said.

Elias reiterated that he’ll continue to look for opportunities to acquire additional starters as free agents or by a trade. He also said adding relievers is also a possibility.

Félix Bautista, who was in the clubhouse on Wednesday morning could be a late-season possibility. Bautista underwent labrum and rotator cuff surgery last August.

“Not little issues bubbling up yet. It’s early in his rehab. There’s some potential to see him this season. If it is, we expect it’s going to be later and we also won’t want to put pressure that he needs to appear this season because it’s possible that he doesn’t.”

Call for questions: I answer Orioles questions most weekdays. Please send yours to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com.