Mailbag

Orioles’ Midday Mailbag: When will Félix Bautista return?

Every weekday, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles question. If you’d like to submit a question, send it to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com. Questions may be edited for clarity, length and style.

Question: Why is Félix Bautista taking so long to recover from Tommy John surgery? From: Jerry Gehrig

Answer: Jerry, normally it takes pitchers anywhere from 12 to 18 months to recover from Tommy John surgery. Bautista had his surgery in October 2023, and a follow-up procedure in February. At the time of his procedure, Bautista was declared out for the 2024 season. It took John Means nearly 17 months to return to the major leagues after his April 2022 Tommy John surgery, though he also had a back injury that set him back a few months. The Orioles expect Bautista to be ready for the 2025 season.

CONTINUE READING BELOW

Question: Statcast is used for everything now during the game. Is there a website where we can see stuff?  From: Rob Jefferson 

Answer: Rob, in order to see Statcast’s readings, go to Baseball Savant, which is run by mlb.com — https://baseballsavant.mlb.com. You can see exit velocity, pitch velocity, distances balls were hit and other stats.

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Rich Dubroff

Rich Dubroff grew up in Brooklyn as a fan of New York teams, but after he moved to Baltimore, quickly adopted the Orioles and Colts. After nearly two decades as a freelancer assisting on Orioles coverage for several outlets, principally The Capital in Annapolis and The Carroll County Times, Dubroff began covering the team fulltime in 2011. He spent five years at Comcast SportsNet’s website and for the last two seasons, wrote for PressBoxonline.com, Dubroff lives in Baltimore with his wife of more than 30 years, Susan.

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