Bradish has elbow injury, will start on IL
Means a month behind, could miss opening day
SARASOTA, Fla. — The Baltimore Orioles were expected to enter 2024 with two American League Cy Young candidates atop their rotation after trading for Corbin Burnes at the end of the offseason.
But the other half of that dominant duo is injured and will miss the beginning of the season.
Right-hander Kyle Bradish has an elbow injury and will begin the season on the injured list, executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias said Thursday as the Orioles began their first spring training workout.
Bradish, who finished fourth in AL Cy Young Award voting after his breakout 2023 season, sprained the ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing elbow — the ligament that requires Tommy John elbow reconstruction if torn — when he was ramping up for spring training in January. Bradish then received platelet-rich plasma injections in his elbow, which in some cases have helped pitchers return from UCL injuries.
While not having the 27-yearold early in the season isn’t ideal, Elias said the recovery for Bradish, who will begin a throwing program Friday, is “pointing in the right direction” and that “the hope and focus is to get him back in 2024.”
“Pitching is a dangerous business nowadays,” Elias said. “You never like to hear anybody have elbow or shoulder or wrist injuries or what have you. There are a lot of people who have (PRP injections) and never get surgery, and rest and other treatments do the trick. So, hopefully, that’s where we’re at with this one.”
Bradish isn’t the only starting pitcher who is expected to miss the beginning of the season because of his elbow. Veteran lefthander John Means, who missed last year’s AL Division Series with an elbow flare-up after returning from Tommy John, began his offseason throwing routine a month later to recover. Elias said he is a month behind the club’s other healthy starters, and while he wouldn’t rule him out for the opening-day roster, the Orioles’ top executive said the “math” makes it seem unlikely.
The absences of Means and Bradish means Tyler Wells and Cole Irvin, starting pitchers who appeared on the outside looking in of Baltimore’s rotation after the Burnes addition, are squarely in the Orioles’ rotation plans. However, manager Brandon Hyde said the last few rotation spots will be a competition with the other starters at camp, including Bruce Zimmermann, Jonathan Heasley and prospects Seth Johnson, Cade Povich and Chayce McDermott.