Kjerstad hitting cleanup for Orioles: ‘All of us want to provide that boost’

DETROIT—Heston Kjerstad will bat fourth and be the Orioles’ designated hitter on Sunday against the Detroit Tigers. Kjerstad is back and free of the concussion symptoms that sent him first to the 7-day concussion list and then, after 18 at-bats in his return, to the 10-day list.

“Came back, wasn’t feeling great, playing games, brushed it off, figured I wasn’t playing every day, kept having recurring symptoms and the team was like, ‘We need to get this checked out. We need to get you healthy,’” Kjerstad said.

Kjerstad went to physical therapy and they worked to make sure he was free of headaches and worked on his balance. The time off was hard.

“It wasn’t enjoyable, that’s for sure,” Kjerstad said. “For one, you always want to be healthy. Two, hate missing playing games. That’s all I want to do is play baseball, so anytime I’m sidelined it’s not enjoyable. It’s part of the career path.

“You’ve got to stay positive and just work through for the day you’re finally going to be back.”

It’s been difficult for the Orioles to score runs during the last few weeks, and Kjerstad is hoping he can provide a spark.

“One hundred percent. All of us want to provide that boost,” Kjerstad said. “Maybe I can bring that. It’s a really good team, great lineup. I couldn’t be happier.

“The offense needs to get rolling a little bit better. Still got a lot of great hitters there. All it takes is one, and once it goes, the rest of the offense will roll with them. We’ll get it rolling.”

Kjerstad had a six-game rehab assignment with High-A Aberdeen and Double-A Bowie.

“Once I was able to go out on the field and take at-bats and track the baseball and run down fly balls in the outfield, and it felt completely normal  like it did earlier in the season, that’s when I was like, ‘OK, I’m good to roll,’” he said.

Concussions are tricky, and there’s not a timeline for return to action as there might be for other injuries. There was no guarantee Kjerstad, who last played in a game on July 29^th.

“That was probably a little bit of my problem,” Kjerstad said. “It wasn’t an ankle injury or something like that to where I tried to play through it when I was probably not 100 percent.

“That was part of it to begin with. Everybody I worked with was super, ‘A couple of weeks, and you’ll be back at it rolling.’ I wasn’t too worried about coming back this year. I was really confident that I was going to come back soon.”

Webb returns to bullpen

Jacob Webb, who was on the 15-day injured list with right elbow inflammation, also rejoined the team on Sunday. He last pitched on August 2^nd.

“Dealing with some issues with my elbow, but I feel like I’m in a good spot,” Webb said. “Ready to come back to help the team.”

Webb didn’t think it would take six weeks to return.

“Personally, no. I think it was the right process in making sure that it was correct,” Webb said. “We have faith in all these guys in this clubhouse, regardless of who they are. I think we have a great team here and I’m looking forward to helping this team and hopefully having the team win a couple more games.”