Orioles’ John Means and Tyler Wells will both have elbow surgery and miss the rest of 2024

Since John Means left his start last week with elbow discomfort, the fear of a worst-case scenario was immediate.

Means, the Orioles’ ace during the club’s rebuild, had spent the previous two years recovering from Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery and overcoming setbacks along the way. When he joined Baltimore’s rotation in early May, he hoped his elbow injury was behind him, but his departure last week in St. Louis led to fears that might not be the case.

The worst-case scenario came true Friday, but Means isn’t the only former Tommy John surgery recipient who has to go under the knife again.

Means and Tyler Wells will both undergo elbow surgery in June to repair the ulnar collateral ligaments in their pitching elbows, general manager Mike Elias announced Friday before the Orioles’ game against the Tampa Bay Rays at Camden Yards. Both pitchers will miss the remainder of the season and likely the start of the 2025 campaign.

“It’s a very unfortunate situation for us, for them,” Elias said. “Difficult news for everyone. But we will take good care of them and bring them back to their skill level in due time.

Elias said the team won’t know what type of surgery the pitchers will undergo to repair their UCLs a second time until their respective procedures are closer, which he said will take place “very soon.” Elias did not name the specific types of procedures they might undergo, but he did not rule out Tommy John, which normally requires a 12 to 18 month recovery. An internal brace procedure, which reinforces the UCL with a ribbon-like suture, is an alternative to Tommy John that is becoming more common among MLB pitchers.

“It’s tough news for both of these guys,” Elias added. “They have a lot of time and work ahead of them now. Rehab is very lonely and it’s very different playing here every day. It’s not something you want to see anyone playing this game go through, but it’s unfortunately a big part of being a pitcher right now. They are both very tough guys who have already overcome this, and they still have youth on their side.

Manager Brandon Hyde said the news was a “big blow.”

“It’s really disappointing,” Hyde said. “Two guys you really pull for. We were hoping for better news, and I’m just disappointed for them personally that they won’t be able to apply this year and be with us.

The Orioles’ starting pitching depth has been one of their strengths this season. It also allowed the club to stay afloat as Means and Kyle Bradish missed the start of the season, Wells injured his elbow in mid-April, and Grayson Rodriguez and Dean Kremer missed time with minor injuries. to the arm.

Now that depth isn’t so deep anymore. With Means and Wells out for the season, the Orioles are down to five starting options on their 26-man roster with Kremer on the 15-day injured list and a few options in Triple-A. This could also open up the possibility of acquiring a starting pitcher at the trade deadline.

“Knock on wood, I still feel pretty good about the starting pitching options we have right now,” Elias said. “But we’re obviously going to monitor things and continue to see what happens both internally and externally over the next few months before we close the book on our starting situation.”

The overall health of the Orioles pitching staff, however, remains a concern. In 2023, Baltimore recorded the fifth fewest days on the IL in MLB. None of the seven pitchers who started five or more games were placed on the IL due to an arm injury. This year, five Orioles starters suffered arm injuries, proving that a team’s injuries from year to year are fickle.

However, injuries make acquiring ace Corbin Burnes this offseason even more important. Burnes has been a stabilizing force at the top of Baltimore’s rotation, ranking seventh in the AL with a 2.35 ERA and recording a quality start in each of his last seven outings.

It’s not just about Burnes, as the Orioles rotation ranks third in MLB with a 3.03 ERA. Bradish, who missed the start of the season due to a partial UCL tear for which he received platelet-rich plasma injections, has a 1.75 ERA in his first five starts, including seven no-hit innings Sunday. Rodriguez missed a few weeks with a shoulder injury, but he posted a 3.53 ERA this season, extending his dominant second half from last year into his sophomore campaign.

Kremer (4.32 ERA) is out with a triceps strain, but Elias said he’s not “worried” about the right-hander, who could be back in late June after a few rehab outings in the minor leagues. Cole Irvin has bounced back from his rocky 2023 campaign with a 2.84 ERA as one of the Orioles’ most consistent starters, while Albert Suárez sports a sparkling 1.53 ERA across four starts and seven outings relief.

“It feels really solid to me,” Elias said.

Means, 31, was an All-Star in 2019, threw no hits in 2021 and has a career ERA of 3.68. But since 2022, he has started just 10 games after undergoing Tommy John surgery in April 2022, returned to start four games in late 2023 and has taken the mound four times this year. The southpaw was back to his old self to start his 2024 campaign, posting a 2.61 ERA with 16 strikeouts against two walks in 20 2/3 innings.

“You saw the work he did last year,” Hyde said, “finishing the season so strong for us and pitching so well down the stretch. It was incredibly rewarding for him. … C It’s tough. It’s tough mentally. It’s hard to deal with, so to see him go through all that… it’s incredibly disappointing.

It’s possible Means has pitched his final game as an Oriole, as the left-hander is set to become a free agent this offseason. After his first elbow surgery, the club signed him to a two-year contract to ensure he would remain with the organization during his recovery. The Orioles did the same with closer Felix Bautista last year after the All-Star closer underwent Tommy John surgery.

“I think the first step is to take care of this,” Elias said of Means’ recovery. “We will support him and we have a long relationship. He is a special member of this organization considering everything he has done.

Wells, 29, joined the organization as a 2020 Rule 5 draft pick after missing the previous two seasons while recovering from Tommy John surgery. He finished his 2021 campaign as the team’s closer and was the Orioles’ top starting pitcher in the first half of both the 2022 and 2023 campaigns. He led the American League in WHIP in the first half of 2023, but he is ran out of gas in July, was optioned to the minors and returned in September as a reliever, closing out the Orioles’ AL East title victory.

Wells, who has a career 4.06 ERA, started this season in the Orioles rotation, but was placed on the 15-day IL after his third start. Hyde was “optimistic” that Wells would recover and that the 6-foot-8 right-hander was placed on the IL for “precautionary reasons.” But Elias said Wells’ attempts to start a throwing program ended in discomfort and that after trying “conservative methods,” the organization decided surgery was the best solution. Wells has three more years of arbitration before hitting free agency.

The injuries could mean that Suárez, who starts Friday against the Rays, will remain in Baltimore’s rotation, although the Orioles have Triple-A pitching prospects Cade Povich and Chayce McDermott, who Elias said are “starting to hit at the door “. Hyde also said the club was still considering a six-player rotation.

Mike Elias says Cade Povich and Chayce McDermott are “very close.”

With the recent injury news, here’s a look at the five types of pitchers — from potential starters to potential relievers to depth options — Baltimore could call up this year: https://t.co/xxvp7V0biS

– Jacob Calvin Meyer (@jcalvinmeyer) May 31, 2024

Povich, who Baseball America ranks as the Orioles’ No. 2 pitching prospect, appears to be first in line after his torrid start to the season. The left-hander has a 2.35 ERA and a 32.9% strikeout rate in 10 starts with the Norfolk Tides.