If you weren’t panicking yet, it might be time to start now.
The Orioles starting rotation has suffered another blow. The team indicated after Tuesday’s game that starting pitcher Zach Eflin would be going on the injured list and they made it official ahead of Wednesday’s series finale against the Diamondbacks. Eflin was placed on the 15-day injured list with a lat strain. Reliever Colin Selby was recalled from Triple-A Norfolk.
This has been building since Eflin left his start on Monday after six innings with a curiously low pitch count. At the time, manager Brandon Hyde received some criticism for not pushing Eflin farther. After the game, the team revealed that Eflin had exited the game due to shoulder fatigue. Though Eflin reported feeling better the next day, an MRI revealed a grade 1 lat strain. That’s always going to mean an injured list stint.
Selby, a 27-year-old righty, has a 7.55 ERA in 31 career big league innings. It’s not inspiring. He appeared in three games for the 2024 Orioles, keeping a clean 0.00 ERA while pitching four innings. In three games for the Tides this year, Selby also has a 0.00 ERA across 3.1 innings of work.
For now, according to the Orioles, the plan is for Eflin to be shut down from throwing for seven days and then see where things go from there. What happens in seven days will determine whether this is a close-to-minimum injured list stint or whether it stretches out more like a month. It is good news that it’s a grade 1 strain, which is the least severe, but, you know, this is the #1 guy in a rotation without any other top talent right now and it’s going to be a problem for however long he’s out.
Beat writer Jake Rill sketched out the coming schedule and noted that the Orioles don’t actually need anyone to start in Eflin’s spot in the rotation until April 19. If the front office decides that’s their best option, then they might just cycle between different relievers over the next ten days. Other relievers on the 40-man roster are recently-acquired lefty Grant Wolfram, recently-acquired righty Cody Poteet, and O’s farmhands Luis González and Kade Strowd. Of these guys, only Poteet has previous MLB-level experience.
If the Orioles are lucky (they won’t be) Eflin will be able to return after the 15 days. Whether they get lucky or not, they’re going to have to figure out which minor league pitcher they want to line up for that April 19 start and probably at least one more beyond that. I’d like to see Brandon Young, who’s already on the 40-man roster, get an audition for however long this vacancy lasts, but as is often the case, it is not likely that I will be consulted in the decisionmaking.
For now, add one more name on the list of Orioles starting pitchers who are injured:
- Eflin (lat)
- Grayson Rodriguez (elbow inflammation)
- Kyle Bradish (Tommy John recovery)
- Tyler Wells (UCL surgery recovery)
- Trevor Rogers (knee)
And if you want to be generous to them, you could count Albert Suárez (shoulder strain) and Chayce McDermott (lat) as injured Orioles starting pitchers as well. It’s a lot of injured guys! The Orioles made it through the 2023 season with extremely good starting pitching injury luck and things have been going the other direction for them ever since.