Orioles’ Westburg eyes full season in ’26; Remembering Craig Heist

For the second straight season, Jordan Westburg missed a significant time because of injuries. In 2024, the 26-year-old third baseman broke his right hand when he was hit by a pitch and missed most of the season’s second half.

This year, he missed time because of a strained hamstring and a sprained ankle and played just 85 games. Even worse, after two postseason appearances in his first two seasons, the Orioles won just 75 games and finished far out of the playoffs.

“I don’t know if I’ve processed it yet,” Westburg said on September 28^th, the final day of the season. “It’s hard to end the season this way after the last couple years, the teams that I’ve been able to be a part of and making the postseason and having some really special celebratory moments. So that part is hard. There’s a lot of feelings going on inside of me.

“I’ll take a moment to process them. I don’t know if I can put them into words right now, but for right now, just a little bit of disappointment.”

Westburg’s numbers were good. His 17 home runs were tied with Gunnar Henderson and Jackson Holliday for the team lead, and he had 41 RBIs, a .265 average and .770 OPS.

“I think the first time I came off the IL, I kind of found my groove a little bit and felt like I was playing some really good baseball and felt like I was playing close to the caliber of player that I hold myself to,” Westburg said. “Of course, I went on the IL again with the ankle and rushed back, wasn’t myself.

“But I felt good these last four or five games, and it sucks that we’re ending now and can’t keep building on that. It was a tough year. Frustrating year for me personally, not being able to stay on the field. I’m going to do everything I can this offseason to try and correct some things that need correcting, to work on my body so that I can try and stay on the field for 162, because first and foremost, I want to help this team win, anyway that is. And I do think that I’m a capable player to be on the field and help us win games.”

Westburg knows that 2026 will be a test to determine if 2025 was a fluke or a sign of a team in decline.

“I think there needs to be a reflection from everybody in this clubhouse, on a big scale and on a small scale,” he said. “What did every individual do or did not do to add to this or to make us where we are? And then, kind of what can we do to change things? It’s going to be different for everybody. Everybody’s going to have a different scenario or come into camp maybe with a different opportunity. I think everybody’s a professional, though, and they’ll reflect and correct.”

Remembering Craig Heist

There are all sorts of people in press boxes doing all sorts of jobs, but there was one person who seemingly was in every press box in the Baltimore-Washington area.

Craig Heist, who died on Friday at 66, was always there. Whether it was an Orioles, Nationals, Ravens, Commanders, Capitals, Wizards or University of Maryland event, Heist was there covering it for one outlet, or in some cases, many outlets at a time.

His death came as a shock since he had covered the Capitals’ opening game on Wednesday.

A friend for more than 30 years, Heist was capable of great kindness. When my laptop died at a Wizards game, Heist lent me his. When writers at Orioles games had their laptops broken by foul balls, Heist was the first to help, offering his laptop.

It’s hard to describe to people outside of sports what Heist did. For years, he did two sports reports an hour for Washington’s WTOP radio, often live during games.

In recent years he worked for Washington’s WJFK, which was the rights-holder for Nationals games, and he hosted pregame shows as well as interviewing players on the field after Nats wins. The team even awarded him a World Series ring in 2019.

Heist was still at most Orioles home games, twirling his microphone when asking questions to players in postgame clubhouses and spending late hours feeding sound to news services.

He was a skilled radio interviewer. I knew because I was impressed by the knowledge of the Orioles he displayed when I was a guest on shows he hosted.

He was admired by radio professionals around the country. No one grows up and wants to be a radio stringer. They want to be play-by-play announcers or a talk show host, but Heist worked hard over the years to produce quality sound to networks, though in recent years, there wasn’t as much of that work as in years past.

Sometimes on an Orioles road trip, we’ll see someone after the game holding a microphone, asking questions, looking for sound. “There’s the Philadelphia Heist,” we’d say … or the Cleveland Heist. They were never as good as Craig was.

His old jokes made mine look new, and he and the Associated Press’ David Ginsburg were like the “Sunshine Boys” of the press box for their routines.

When the new press box opens in Camden Yards next year, Craig Heist won’t be there, and it just won’t be the same.

Call for questions: I answer Orioles questions most weekdays. Please send yours to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com.