SARASOTA, Florida—Pitcher Kyle Bradish is confident he’ll be an effective starter for the Orioles this season despite his sprained right elbow that will land him on the 15-day injured list to start the season.
“I’m feeling really good right now,” Bradish said on Friday. “Take it day-by-day, trust the process and the schedule.”
Bradish experienced soreness in his elbow while throwing last month. He was disappointed when an MRI showed he’d suffered an injury to his ulnar collateral ligament.
“Obviously, I was bummed,” he said. “Based off the year we had last year [101 wins].Coming into this year feeling really confident. It was a little bit of a setback. I feel confident that I’ll be able to pitch and help this team out this year.”
Bradish was 12-7 with a 2.83 earned-run average last year, finishing fourth in American League Cy Young voting.
He’s been given platelet-rich-plasma injections to heal the injury.
“I trust our training staff, what they said Initial results from it feel good,” he said. “We’ll see how it goes when I throw today.”
Bradish was to begin light throwing on Friday after six weeks of rest.
“There’s a lot of depth on this team with a lot of good pitchers, so I have full confidence this team won’t miss a beat,” he said.
Means is confident, too
Pitcher John Means’ sore left elbow has put him about a month behind the other starters. Means’ elbow flared up before last October’s Division Series, and the Orioles wanted him to rest.
“I feel great right now,” Means said. He threw his first bullpen on January 30th. “That was the schedule to take some extra time off. It ended up being a month.”
Means said it’s unlikely he’ll be ready by Opening Day.
“At this point, I understand, follow the process, do the best I can every day and try to be as prepared as I can,” he said.
Means had Tommy John surgery in April 2022, and has started only six times in 2022 and 2023.
“My faith has been through a lot and kind of carried me through this,” he said. “I’ve become closer and closer to it. I’ve learned more and more that I am not in control.”
Means also cited the Orioles’ pitching depth with Tyler Wells and Cole Irvin available to step in.
“We have a ton of depth,” Means said. “Everybody in this clubhouse trusts each other. We know that anybody we throw out there is going to be pretty dang good.”
Henderson not worried about oblique strain
Infielder Gunnar Henderson strained his left oblique muscle three weeks ago, an injury that will keep him out of early Grapefruit League games.
“I was just long tossing. My left side caught on me,” Henderson said. “It caught on me while I was throwing. I’m about three weeks out now, so I should be ready to roll here before too long here. We got all the scans and stuff, and it all showed good news. It’s all good.”
Basallo waiting to throw
A stress fracture in his right elbow has put 19-year-old catcher/first baseman Samuel Basallo behind, and he’s not able to throw during spring training. Basallo is MLB Pipeline’s 17th-rated prospect.
“Right now, it’s really good, and we’ve been working to get it better,” Basallo said through a translator. “Slowly, we’ve been doing more activities to continue to get it into a better place.”