Orioles’ Westburg on his rehab: ‘I’d like to say that I’m extremely confident, but only time will tell’

SARASOTA—Orioles third baseman Jordan Westburg doesn’t know when he might return after getting treatment for his partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. President of baseball operations Mike Elias said Westburg has been ruled out until at least May 1^st.

The 27-year-old Westburg received a platelet-rich-plasma injection in the elbow on Thursday in Los Angeles when he visited Dr. Neal ElAttrache.

“It’s been going on for some years now,” Westburg said on Sunday morning. “It just got to a point where it wasn’t sustainable.”

What’s next for Westburg?

“Time, rest, to my understanding, just see how the injection is progressing, what’s going on, and if we have to pivot, we pivot,” Westburg said. “If not to push forward … Kind of hope and pray that this injection does its thing and take it a day at a time.”

Originally, Westburg was set to miss at least the first few games of the Grapefruit League season because of a right oblique muscle injury. While he was recovering from that, he felt elbow pain.

“You can imagine how frustrating and disappointing it is, but at the same time, what am I going to do about it?” Westburg said. “I do feel like I was doing everything the right way, or to the best of my knowledge, the best way, and these things are still happening.”

In 2024, Westburg was on the injured list after he was hit by a pitch and broke his right hand. Last season, he was on the IL twice with hamstring and ankle injuries.

“I’m going to reach out to maybe some outside sources to see if there’s any help that I can get,” Westburg said. “These injuries are part of the game, part of life. I’m just trying to stay positive and take this a day at the time.

“I’d like to sit here and say, extremely confident, but some of this wears on you mentally. There are doubts, but I’m going to do my best to see what avenues I can go down to maybe help bullet-proof my body a little bit more. I don’t know if there’s a way to do that, but I’m going to try.

“That’s another frustrating part of this is I do feel like I was able to stay healthy and play through a lot of things and, to an extent, I did. Past couple of years, still playing through things that weren’t disclosed and weren’t announced, but some of the major ones, just can’t play through.

“I’d like to say that I’m extremely confident, but only time will tell.”

Westburg thinks that utility players Blaze Alexander and Jeremiah Jackson will help fill the void. Second baseman Jackson Holliday also will miss the early part of the 2026 season after surgery to remove the hamate bone from his right wrist.

“Those guys are superbly talented and just great people, great guys to have in the clubhouse,” Westburg said. “Somebody’s going to step up. Somebody’s going to play a lot of good baseball for us, so I hope I can kind of join in and whatever my role needs to be at that point, I’m more than happy to step in.”

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