In acquiring veteran right-hander Jack Flaherty from the St. Louis Cardinals and moving to a six-man rotation, the Orioles hoped to protect a collection of young starters from fatigue. Instead, Flaherty became the first member of that group to deal with that issue.
The Orioles scratched Flaherty from Wednesday night’s start against the Toronto Blue Jays, with right-hander Dean Kremer moving up a day and Baltimore yet to announce a starter for Thursday’s series finale or its upcoming series with the Colorado Rockies.
Flaherty repeatedly cited an inability to “bounce back” from his previous start — a three-inning, seven-run dud Aug. 15 against the San Diego Padres — while Hyde said Flaherty is dealing with “general soreness,” the type that’s typical for starters between outings but seemingly hasn’t faded over the past week in Flaherty’s case.
“Sometimes, you don’t bounce back the way you want to,” Flaherty said Wednesday without elaborating much further. “Throwing [Tuesday], just didn’t quite feel like I bounced back, and sometimes, those are the hard decisions to make especially when you want to take the ball every time out. Just one of those things.”
Hyde said the Orioles decided before Tuesday night’s game, a 6-3 loss to Toronto, that Flaherty would not start Wednesday but wanted to make sure Kremer’s schedule wasn’t disrupted before announcing the change. Flaherty’s 123 2/3 innings between Baltimore and St. Louis are his most since 2019 and more than he threw in the majors across 2021 and 2022 combined.
“This is what’s going to happen,” Hyde said. “It’s late August. We have a lot of guys in there that are beat up and played a lot of baseball so far. These are things we’re just going to have to roll with and make adjustments, and next guy steps up.”
Baltimore on the cusp of the MLB trade deadline for three top 20 prospects. In three starts with the Orioles, the 27-year-old pending free agent has a 7.07 ERA, though that’s bloated by a in which he threw 73 pitches over the first two innings. Left-hander Drew Rom, one of the three prospects Baltimore parted with for Flaherty, allowed eight runs (six earned) in 3 2/3 innings in his MLB debut as the Cardinals’ starter Monday.
The Orioles have of late , giving young starters such as Kremer, Kyle Bradish and Grayson Rodriguez extra rest between outings. Thanks to recent days off, they could briefly return to a five-man operation and have veteran Kyle Gibson start Thursday, still with five days of rest. Flaherty is seemingly not an option, with Hyde saying he will receive “a little bit of a break.”
Days before trading for Flaherty, the Orioles optioned right-hander Tyler Wells, their top starter in the first half of the season, to Double-A Bowie after three rough starts out of the All-Star break, likewise citing concerns about fatigue. Hyde said Tuesday that Wells will pitch for Triple-A Norfolk on Wednesday that could eventually bring him back to Baltimore.
The Orioles added a fresh arm to their bullpen before Wednesday’s game, activating right-hander Austin Voth from the 60-day injured list and optioning right-hander Mike Baumann to Norfolk. To create an opening for Voth, a long reliever who had been on the IL with right elbow discomfort since mid-June, on the 40-man roster, Baltimore transferred left-hander Keegan Akin (lower back discomfort) to the 60-day IL. Akin was not expected to be an option to return until sometime in September.
In his first season as a full-time reliever, Baumann established himself as a key piece for Hyde, going 9-0 with a 3.31 ERA in his first 49 appearances. But fatigue also began to set in for Baumann, who has allowed seven runs (six earned) over seven innings in his past seven appearances. He allowed three runs in the 10th inning of , giving up his second home run of the month after surrendering none across June and July. Baumann leads Orioles relievers in innings pitched and entered Wednesday tied for the team lead in appearances.
“I’ve been so impressed with him all year, the way he’s taken the ball, the way he stayed durable,” Hyde said. “I love his competitiveness. He’s just in innings territory right now and appearance territory where he’s never been before, and we just feel like right now is the time to give him a little bit of a breather, send him down, kind of go on kind of a strict appearance, throwing program, low-pressure situations, kind of [like] we’ve done with some other guys. Hopefully, we’ll see him back up here soon because he’s done an amazing job for us this season.”
Despite several young pitchers running into proverbial walls, Hyde said the circumstances will help those players in future seasons.
“It’s only going to benefit them and us,” Hyde said. “They’re so young in their careers and their workloads, a lot of these guys have never done some of these things, and so now they’re going to have experiences and they’re able to go look back what they did last year, those type of things. Right now, everything’s new for a lot of guys.”
Around the horn
- Wednesday also delivered some positive pitching news for the Orioles, with the club saying left-hander John Means’ fourth rehabilitation start will come Friday with Triple-A Norfolk. In three outings for Double-A Bowie as he works toward a return from May 2022 Tommy John elbow reconstruction, Means topped out at four innings and 57 pitches, adding about 15 pitches to his workload with each start. Hyde said Tuesday that Means, an All-Star in 2019, is on track for an early September return to the majors.
- Outfielder Anthony Santander was back in the Orioles’ lineup in right field after missing the past three games with a sore back.
- Hyde said second baseman Adam Frazier was unable to play Tuesday as he continues to deal with soreness in his right hand, though he could appear off the bench Wednesday. Catcher James McCann has a “big blood blister” on his left hand after being hit by a pitch Tuesday, Hyde said.
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