Baltimore Orioles Young Ace, New Offseason Addition Both Starting Season on IL

Two important Baltimore Orioles players will begin the season on the injured list.

Jul 2, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Grayson Rodriguez (30) throws against the Seattle Mariners during the fifth inning at T-Mobile Park | Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

The Baltimore Orioles were hoping the injury issues they went through last year wouldn't carry over into this season, but that has not been the case.

Per Matt Weyrich of The Baltimore Sun, manager Brandon Hyde has announced that both Grayson Rodriguez and Andrew Kittredge will begin the 2025 campaign on the injured list.

Rodriguez was supposed to be a front-end starter in the rotation this year, either taking the No. 1 title or slotting behind Zach Eflin to provide a formidable one-two punch.

There were concerns about his velocity being down in spring training, something he brushed to the side. However, the young ace then said he was experiencing triceps soreness which will now keep him on the shelf for Opening Day as he gets a second opinion on this issue that also is affecting his elbow.

The latter part of that is what is most concerning.

Whenever the elbow is brought into the equation, there is a worry that something is wrong with the Ulnar Collateral Ligament, which could require Tommy John surgery or a similar procedure to fix. That's what ended the seasons of Kyle Bradish, John Means and Tyler Wells last year.

But Hyde is confident that's not what the situation is here.

"It's not a ligament issue, so we're not concerned about that. But it's going to result in some missed time," he said per Weyrich.

Still, this will be something to keep an eye on.

As for Kittredge, he's undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery to get rid of the knee inflammation he's been dealing with during camp that has limited his ability to pitch.

While the recovery timetable depends on what the actual problem was with his knee, there doesn't seem to be a ton of concern that there was major structural damage done, which should allow him to appear in the early part of the season depending on how he recovers.

The Orioles were hoping to avoid the injury bug, but with these two already out of the mix for an Opening Day roster spot and Gunnar Henderson dealing with an injury that has his status in question, this is not the start they had envisioned.