Injured Baltimore Orioles Ace Shines In First Rehab Start
The Baltimore Orioles are hoping to get their All-MLB pitcher from a year ago back soon as he recovers from an elbow injury.
A Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher began his work back from an elbow injury that set him back for all of spring training.
Kyle Bradish, who earned All-MLB Second Team honors and finished fourth in Cy Young voting last season, made his first injury rehab start with Double-A Bowie on Tuesday night.
Thus starts the clock on Bradish, who now has 30 days to build up a return to the Orioles. He was supposed to start his rehab clock last week but a rainout at High-A Aberdeen forced Baltimore to wait.
Bradish is recovering from a right UCL sprain, which is the same ligament that can lead to Tommy John surgery. The Orioles caught the sprain early in camp and believe that with rest and rehabilitation Bradish can avoid surgery.
Bradish looked sharp in the outing. He threw 44 pitches, 26 of which were strikes, in three innings of work. He gave up just one hit, struck out four and walked none. He also didn’t allow a run.
On Wednesday, Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde told reporters that Bradish “feels good” after the rehab start and experienced no setbacks. His next rehab start is not scheduled.
That’s good news for the 27-year-old right-hander and for the team, as the Orioles continue to work through pitching injuries.
John Means continues his rehab stint in the minors this week, while Baltimore just placed starter Tyler Wells on the 15-day injured list.
Getting Bradish back would be a significant boost.
Bradish went 12-7 in 30 starts in 2023, throwing 168.2 innings and striking out 168 last season. He had the fourth-best ERA in baseball at 2.83 and had a 1.04 WHIP. He helped the Orioles win the American League East for the first time since 2016.
