Baltimore Orioles Starter To Begin Rehab At Norfolk On Sunday

John Means is headed to Norfolk to work his way back to the Baltimore Orioles, while two other pitchers are headed to Sarasota for injury rehab.

Sep 29, 2023; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher John Means (47) throws a / Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

The Baltimore Orioles provided updates on the injury status of three pitchers before Saturday’s game with the Los Angeles Angels.

The best news was that starting pitcher John Means is set to start a rehab assignment with Triple-A Norfolk on Sunday, according to the Baltimore Banner and other outlets.

Means, who recovered from Tommy John surgery and pitched in the latter stages of the 2023 season, reported to spring training about a month behind the rest of the team due to forearm issues.

He never pitched in a game in spring training. Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said they expect Means to pitch two innings. He has a 30-day rehab window before the Orioles have to do something with him in terms of their Major League roster.

Kyle Bradish, who was the Orioles’ best pitcher a season ago, threw a 35-pitch bullpen session on Friday, which was an off-day for the Orioles, reported MASN. Bradish threw all of his pitches and reported no ill-effects from the session. But, there is no schedule for his return from what the Orioles are calling a right UCL sprain.

Bradish went 12-7 in 30 starts, throwing 168.2 innings and striking out 168. He had the fourth-best ERA in baseball at 2.83 and had a 1.04 WHIP.

That performance led him to finish in the Top 5 in Cy Young voting and earned him a spot on the All-MLB Second Team.

The Orioles feel good enough about his progress to let him move to Sarasota so he can start ramping up at the team’s spring training facility, per MLB.com.

The same is true for closer Félix Bautista, who is expected to miss the entire season due to Tommy John surgery. He will head to Sarasota with Bradish to continue his rehab work.

Despite missing the final month of the 2023 season, he was named to the All-MLB First Team and the Mariano Rivera Reliever of the Year after he went 8-2 and saved 33 games with a 1.48 ERA in 56 games. He struck out 110 hitters in 61 innings for a nine-inning rate of 16.2 strikeouts.