Baltimore Orioles All-Star Will Return To Lineup Soon After Strange Back Injury

The Baltimore Orioles have had a few injuries pop up during spring training, however, one of their key players will likely be returning soon from his.

Baltimore Orioles infielder Jordan Westburg hits a single against the Kansas City Royals in the 2024 MLB Playoffs. | Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

The Baltimore Orioles have had a few injuries during spring training this year, including their offseason signing Andrew Kittredge who has knee inflammation.

2024 All-Star Jordan Westburg has also dealt with back spasms.

This has held him out for a bit, having only played in one spring training game to date.

The good news regarding Westburg is that he has figured out the cause of the injury, and it is a somewhat strange occurrence.

As was reported by Matt Weyrich of The Baltimore Sun and Andy Kostka of The Baltimore Banner, the injury stems from an overly soft mattress at his AirBnB. Kostka mentions that Westburg was initially stubborn and just tried to deal with it, but eventually, as the spasms became an issue, he bought a hard mattress topper which has helped.

The good news coming from this is that both reporters state he will likely be back in the lineup soon, and potentially as early as March 6.

Getting Westburg back is going to be critical for the Orioles since he is a crucial part of their infield.

The rapidly-improving player had an exceptional second season with a .264/.312/.481 slash line, 18 homers, 63 RBI, 57 runs scored, six stolen bases and 97 strikeouts to 22 walks.

He plays well in the field, too, splitting time between second and third base with some shortstop thrown in.

At third base he played 542.2 innings, accruing 39 putouts, 98 assists, seven double plays turned and only two errors (.986 fielding rate).

Second base was similar with 381.2 innings played, 49 putouts, 81 assists and three errors (.977 fielding rate).

He struggled in his small sample size at shortstop, however, with two errors in 10 innings.

That is not his primary position, so it is not a concern.

Having the type of versatility he does is a huge benefit to Baltimore, and entering his third season, he has only had a small amount of playing time to work with as he prepares for the upcoming campaign.

Hopefully the injury clears up for him in the coming days and he is able to get back on the field to get more work in before Opening Day arrives.

Recovering from any back injury is a tough ordeal, so it is a positive sign he has figured out what was ailing him and will be back in the lineup soon.