Reinforcements Seem Set to Return for Orioles at Crucial Time

For the second straight year, the Baltimore Orioles are dealing with injuries to key players.

While the team hasn't played well overall, and the front office has to take some blame for that, it certainly doesn't help that multiple stars are on the shelf.

That has been a major reason why the starting pitching staff has performed so poorly.

Without Kye Bradish, Grayson Rodriguez and Zach Eflin, there has been a lot of pressure placed on the others who have needed to step up into more prominent roles.

The offense has also been without some real talent throughout the year, beginning the season without Gunnar Henderson and now not having 2024 All-Star Jordan Westburg and Tyler O'Neill among others.

However, it seems like the Orioles could be getting close to having Eflin and O'Neill back in the mix sometime in the near future based on the latest injury update.

Orioles injury updates from Brandon Hyde:

-Zach Eflin will “hopefully” start one of their weekend games in Anaheim if his bullpen tomorrow goes well
-Tyler O’Neill is DH’ing for Norfolk tonight, could return in 2-3 days
-Jordan Westburg also in Norfolk, will work out for a few…
— Matt Weyrich (@ByMattWeyrich) May 6, 2025

Eflin's bit of news might be the most encouraging.

He has been sensational since coming to Baltimore ahead of last year's trade deadline, posting a 2.70 ERA and 141 ERA+ across his 12 starts.

Getting him back atop this rotation will be huge, especially since Tomoyuki Sugano looks like he can be a real one-two punch behind Eflin.

O'Neill hasn't quite endeared himself to this fan base just yet based on his .215/.284/.385 slash line and OPS+ that's below the league average, but his power numbers are sure to tick up eventually at some point this season.

The returns of Eflin and O'Neill will be the first wave that should come for the Orioles.

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