Orioles executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias said that last year’s top draft choice, outfielder Heston Kjerstad, suffered a setback in his attempt to play this season.
Elias also discussed a elbow soreness for pitching prospect DL Hall, manager Brandon Hyde’s status, and Chris Davis’ rehab timeline in an interview with the media before Wednesday night’s game with the Indians.
Kjerstad, the second overall choice in the 2020 draft from the University of Arkansas, has been unable to play because of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle.
“Heston Kjerstad, who was returning to baseball activities and strength at our spring training complex in Sarasota unfortunately has experienced some recurrent inflammation with his heart, so that is slowing down our plan for his return to play,” Elias said.
“This is still a situation that we feel will be a matter of time. He’s putting a lot of work in, he’s very determined. This is a bump in the road. It’s a tricky condition. It’s a very serious one that requires us to be careful and deliberate. I do expect this will back up our timeline for getting him back on the field, and it’s something we probably can’t put an artificial timeline on. We’re going to have to provide some further rest before entering a return to play protocol once again.”
Left-handed pitcher DL Hall, the top pick in 2017 who’s at Bowie, has been sidelined by soreness in the back of his left elbow.
“It wasn’t too serious,” Elias said. “We’re being careful with our pitchers. Had an MRI. The MRI was clean from a structural standpoint — no structural injuries or anything serious to worry about.
“But there was some tendinitis, some inflammation, so we’ll pull him out of the rotation, let him rest for a couple of weeks. In several weeks, start to build him back up and return to the Bowie rotation in good time.”
Elias was asked about manager Brandon Hyde, whose team has lost 17 straight road games.
“I will say I hired Brandon,” Elias said. “I handpicked him for this job because of his skills, because of the relationship that we felt, because of his references, because of his broad perspective across baseball operations from the dugout all the way to the Gulf Coast League and everything between.
“He is a partner with us in this multiyear project. We all knew this would be a multiyear project. We knew that there were going to be some rough years. He is not being judged on where we are in the standings in 2021. He’s got a lot of interaction. He and his staff have a lot of interaction with a lot of corners of our baseball operations department as we filled out this entire organization. All of that, I couldn’t be happier with. I’m looking forward to getting back to the playoffs and hopefully all of us are still here together for that.”
Elias also said first baseman Chris Davis, who’s on the 60-day injured list after hip labrum surgery, has moved his rehabilitation from Texas to Baltimore. He won’t play this season, but Elias said that he can begin baseball activities in late August or early September.
“He’s making good progress, and we’ll be working to ramp him up here for the next couple of months,” Elias said.
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I know it will take another couple years before see the improvement we expect. It took him 3 years to bring the Houston team up to contenders. Look at all the great players in all the minors. Wait to we see all the great players come to the majors than we will see great results
He contributed, he wasn’t in charge in Houston...go O’s...
Got FIOS?
Incoming!
I'm sure Orioles fans are relieved to hear that Crush is "making good progress."
The problem is Elias. he makes lots of excuses but his decisions on trades have been horrible. Get rid of Elias and bring in a GM that actually knows baseball players.
On Crush Davis ....
"We’ll be working to ramp him up here for the next couple of months,” Elias said.
Ramping .... Davis?
Aaaaaahhhh ..... I get it. And to think he didn't evem put a smilie/winkie face OR an "LOL" on the end of that statement. Talk about your dry/ sense of humor! Sheer genius.
Boog Rob Rob
Elias will say anything but his words are empty. Galvis is playing great ball, but since the O's haven't kept a shortstop for more than a year since JJ, I'm sure Elias will divine another great srategic, mystical reason to trade Freddy. And don't even get me started on the horrible, failed, pitcher decisions. Elias must go.
Santander not playing, believe CLE has a natural grass field, not looking good...go O’s...
Just turned the game on in time to see a beer league inning… Why does the pitcher have a smile on his face?
OMG. All new lows for this team. Missing cutoff men, severino does not catch a ball at home, we blow a rundown by not covering a bag, then leave 3rd base open for a runner to advance.
Wondering the same thing Shamus. Especially considering the gap in his front teeth rivals Michale Strahan's!
Thank you Shamus. Akins is smiling after the total clown act that just happened in the 3rd. Send the whole team back to Norfolk and bring the Tides to Baltimore. These clowns don't care about winning. Embarrassing
Attitude reflects leadership...go O’s...
Crappy news all around in the minors
And to think we, and I mean all of us s far as I know, thought outfield was a strength fit this club.
To continue my thoughts on the outfield. We have a terrific CF I wouldn’t trade for too many others right now. But that’s it. Santander, while not being bad, is certainly not living up to all of our expectations. Hays has been a complete bust. He’s been terrible most of the year and when he’s done well he gets hurt. He’s K’ing at a rate CD would envy. Stewart, well, all I’ll say is bless his heart, he’s (sadly) doing the best he can. Kjerstad it appears we may never get to find out how good he could’ve been. I don’t even wanna consider Mountcastle or Mancini as OF’s so what’s it all mean? To me it means we as fans have one MLB caliber player in what we all thought was a position of strength at the start of the year. Please, please, please tell me we’ve hit rock bottom.
Disagree on Santander and Hays. It's been 1/3 of a season, and these guys are basically stil rookies.
BRR, I’ll admit Hays, while with the club parts of 4 years now still is basically a rookie as far as games played. Santander hasn’t played a ton more but this is now his 5th season now and I’m sure we all expected more from him. Hays to me is looking like a clone of Nolan Reimold. Perhaps the frustration level is simply getting the better of me but like I said, we all thought OF would easily be the strongest position on the team this season. I guess tho if one looks at it, with all the struggles they’ve had, it probably still has been. How bad is that? I mean, it’s certainly not the infield, catching or pitching so I guess by process of elimination it has to be.
While the farm is in a much shape than it was a few yrs back, it could not get much worse. That’s the best I can say for Elias, I’ll give him another yr, but the team must get competitive. Given what he has to work with, Hyde had low job expectations. However, I’m tired of watching the bad news birds fumble and bumble in the field. It seems like every game has multiple stupid errors. That is something that should be unacceptable on a young team that’s low in talent. It also can be remedied by coaching. For this reason, Hyde and the rest of the staff needs to go. Let’s hope things turn around. P.S. what the heck happened to my Ironbirds? This road trip has killed them!
If the current regime would’ve taken over in 1995 this is what I could’ve imagined. Cal would be closing in on Gehrig’s streak when Hyde would sit him down explaining “we’ve just played a series at Tampa and he needs a day to recover.”
Welcome to the post modern kindler, gentler, inoffensive empowering mgt style….
Generation of marshmallows...go O’s...
And speaking of Tampa, I’d like to add something to those few on this site who’ve correctly pointed out that the Rays play half their games on that field. I mean, we all know, as we’ve been counciled many times, that Tampa has the worst field in all MLB. Has anyone EVER seen a Rays player bleed? Could it be they’re all cyborgs? I believe the league should look into that. Or maybe it’s just that they’re so appreciative of living in a state where their governor treats them as adults that they’re willing to play on such horrific conditions. I’m sorry, I’m just very chatty tonite. Chatty being another word for pissed off. So yeh, I’m very chatty.
Only when they’ve been hit in the face with a fastball, you might be on to something...lol...go O’s...
Serious question for all the old timers like myself. As an O’s fan which do/did you find more embarrassing, admitting you’re an O’s fan now, in 2018 or 1988? I myself am going for right now.
Right now, going to Thursdays game, my wife says, maybe we shouldn’t wear our O’s stuff, safety or embarrassment, not sure...go O’s....
Os struggling this year is fine. That will be a better draft pick(s) next year. Don’t be surprised if some late 20-something stars get traded this year too. The core team of the future is like 26 maybe 27 and younger at this point. The Os could make some noise next year if they bring up the right pitching talent.
“It wasn’t too serious,” Elias said. “We’re being careful with our pitchers. Had an MRI. The MRI was clean from a structural standpoint — no structural injuries or anything serious to worry about.
“But there was some tendinitis, some inflammation, so we’ll pull him out of the rotation, let him rest for a couple of weeks. In several weeks, start to build him back up and return to the Bowie rotation in good time.”
Maybe I’m wrong but I seem to recall very similar sentiments said about Bundy when he first started experiencing pain in his arm. As I recall it was “forearm” pain that just needed rested and time to heel.
Can they do a franchise MRI, to tell us structurally what’s wrong?...lmao...go O’s...
We have structural damage to ownership and the coaching staff.
How about an organization-wide EEG?
Trash the Trop all you want, but I can get in my car in north Florida and - with no threat of rain out - be sitting in an air conditioned stadium watching the Orioles 2 1/2 hours later, talking with knowledgeable fans and enjoying live baseball. The Trop is quirky, but I always enjoy going there. Stay the night at a Bed and Breakfast, take in a band in downtown St. Pete and be home by lunch the next day.
The Bay Area is great. Love my trips there. Unfortunately, there aren’t enough fans like you.
More embarrassed in '88 than now. Now, the D-backs and the Pirates are playing and takes attention away from O's futility. As for firing Elias, Hyde, hitting coaches, pitching coaches after less than three years... Not a winning idea. As hard it would be to believe, firing them now would makes things worse for far longer. I never say "it could get any worse", I know for sure, that yes, it can worse.
Taking a guess, but don’t think the stack of resumes would be real deep for Hyde’s job. Perhaps I’m wrong
Just getting embarrassed on the field night after night (managerial skills being another topic) has gotta effect a guy.
I think he’s tried to be a calm and stable influence, but the negativity and brow beating must be taking it’s effect on him.
Marty, the Orioles would have no shortage of candidates if the job came open. There are only 30 jobs and perhaps five or six openings a year. You don't get many shots at the brass ring. Even situations that look bleak will have many candidates. Some would be confident they could turn a hard situation around, others who never managed would be eager or a shot at a big league job. More experienced managers who are out of work might want a job, too.
I guess I am surprised, but don’t mind being proved wrong, either.
Hadn’t thought of it that way.
It’s gonna take a special kind of person.