The Orioles introduced Thursday that left-hander John Means has been positioned on the 15-day injured checklist because of a left forearm pressure. Righty Jonathan Heasley has been recalled from Triple-A Norfolk to take his spot on the 26-man roster. Means exited final evening’s begin after reporting elbow discomfort and seeing a notable dip in his fastball velocity. The workforce has not but commented on the potential size of his absence.
Ominously, the 31-year-old Means missed a good portion of the 2023 season owing to this identical harm. He underwent Tommy John surgical procedure early within the 2022 season and was restricted to simply 23 2/3 innings final 12 months in his return from that ligament reconstruction, largely grew to become of issues in his forearm. He’s pitched a near-identical slate of 20 2/3 innings this season with uncannily related outcomes. After logging a 2.66 ERA final season, he’s at 2.61 in 2024. Means has fanned a below-average 20% of opponents this season however logged an excellent 2.5% stroll fee as nicely.
There’s little doubting Means’ expertise on the mound. Since cementing his place within the Baltimore rotation early in 2019, he’s pitched to a 3.60 ERA with below-average strikeout tendencies (20.9%) however terrific command of the strike zone (4.9% stroll fee). Sadly, persistent well being troubles have severely restricted his time on the mound. Over that span of what’s now five-plus seasons, he’s totaled simply 397 2/3 innings of labor within the majors.
Means, regardless of having labored as a starter for just about his whole huge league profession, simply 401 innings within the majors in a season the place he’s slated to succeed in free company. He’s at 5 years of massive league service already — a lot of it spent on the injured checklist — and can hit the open marketplace for the primary time when the 2024 season attracts to a detailed.
With Means once more sidelined for a yet-to-be-determined interval, the Orioles will doubtless scrap the six-man rotation they’d been planning. Fellow lefty Cole Irvin — who’d been slated to be included in that sextet — stepped up in lengthy reduction for Means final evening. As such, his relaxation schedule will now align with what would’ve been Means’ spot within the rotation, which means he can begin on full relaxation the subsequent time Means would’ve been slated to take the hill.
Irvin will be part of Corbin Burnes, Kyle Bradish, Grayson Rodriguez and Dean Kremer on the beginning workers in the meanwhile, with Heasley presumably out there for lengthy reduction and/or a spot begin if finally wanted. He’s been working as a multi-inning reliever in Norfolk however pitched 5 innings in a begin his final day trip. That introduced him to a complete of 20 innings over seven appearances.
