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MINNEAPOLIS – Zach Eflin accompanied the Orioles to Minneapolis and will throw a bullpen session tomorrow afternoon at Target Field as a follow-up to Sunday’s rehab start with High-A Aberdeen.
Eflin will make his return this weekend against the Angels in Anaheim. He’d be on normal rest Friday night if that’s the chosen date.
“I’m feeling great, obviously, here traveling with the team,” he said. “As close as I can be to being ready and kind of just waiting to get back out there.”
Eflin made three starts with the Orioles, completing six innings in each appearance and posting a 3.00 ERA. He went on the injured list with a right lat strain after holding the Diamondbacks to one run on April 7 in Arizona, vowing to make it a short stay and doing everything possible to get back quickly.
“I’d like to say so, but at the same time I have to listen to the training staff,” he said. “It’s an amazing training staff and if it was my way, I would have liked maybe a day or two extra and then not even go on the IL, but I understand there was something there in my lat and I had to listen to the trainers, I had to listen to my body. Nothing that you ever want to do, go on the IL. You just don’t feel like you’re a part of the team. You want to be out there kind of in the trenches with the guys every day, so it’s hard to kind of have that reality, but at the end of the day, I think it’s what my body needed to be able to go out and make every start for the rest of the season and the playoffs.
“I’m happy that it hasn’t been terribly long, but at the same time, it’s felt very long to me. I don’t like being on the IL, I don’t enjoy it, I don’t think anybody does, but happy I’m in a good spot to be able to pitch whenever my name is called now.”
Eflin made his lone rehab appearance Sunday and tossed four scoreless innings on 58 pitches. He allowed two hits.
“It was good to get competition again,” he said. “I felt ready and fully prepared for it. It went good, I felt great, and here we are.”
Eflin had to attack Class A hitters differently because they don’t usually have the same approach as major league players. They can be overly aggressive, with lots of chase.
“I don’t think there is any setting up, honestly,” he said. “I knew I was gonna get a lot of swings going into it, so kind of just cementing in my mind that I was going there to feel good, to throw strikes with all my pitches, get quick outs, get the pitch count up and put myself in the best possible scenario to pitch up here.”
* The injury updates beyond Eflin also were encouraging today.
Tyler O’Neill is serving as Triple-A Norfolk’s designated hitter tonight in Nashville as he recovers from neck inflammation. Jordan Westburg (left hamstring strain) also is with the Tides and will work out for a few days before entering their lineup.
Westburg is eligible to leave the injured list Wednesday but will need a little more time.
Reliever Andrew Kittredge, who underwent cartilage repair surgery on his left knee in March, will pitch Thursday in Nashville. He tossed an inning Sunday in Aberdeen and allowed a run.
“I’d love to have these guys back as soon as possible,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “Great to see, Tyler’s playing tonight, Westy’s later this week. (Ramón) Urías isn’t that far, either, so I think we’re getting close with some of these guys.”
Trevor Rogers (right knee) will start again for Norfolk later this week. Chayce McDermott, who was reinstated and optioned, makes his next start Friday in Nashville.
* Brandon Young was placed on Norfolk’s seven-day injured list today with shoulder discomfort, which surfaced after his last start. He was examined but no imaging was recommended. The plan is to rest and rehab.
Young, ranked by MLB Pipeline as the organization’s No. 19 prospect, has made two starts with the Orioles and allowed six runs and 11 hits in 8 2/3 innings. He has a 2.82 ERA and 0.940 WHIP in four starts with the Tides.
* Hyde isn’t ready to announce Wednesday night’s starter against the Twins, saying he’ll see how tonight goes before making a decision.
Dean Kremer is pushed back to Thursday.
* The Orioles named Aberdeen’s Ethan Anderson and Michael Forret as their Minor League Player and Pitcher of the Month for April.
Anderson, 21, slashed .292/.410/.400 (19-for-65) with four doubles, a home run, 13 RBIs, 13 walks and nine steals in 19 games. Forret, 21, made five starts and registered a 1.66 ERA with four earned runs in 21 2/3 innings. Opponents went 8-for-68 (.118) with a 0.69 WHIP and 29 strikeouts.
* Reliever Danny Coulombe should get the chance to face his former team in this series. Coulombe hasn’t allowed a run in 12 1/3 innings, with one walk and 11 strikeouts, since he returned to the Twins on a one-year, $3 million contract.
“I hope to see Danny here at some point,” Hyde said, meaning on the field and not in a game.
“I love Danny. Danny got some of the biggest outs for us for those couple years. Any sort of situation – left, right. I wasn’t afraid to use Danny if I knew that they were gonna line change on us just because of the ability to get right-handers out, also. Just pitched with a ton of guts. Doesn’t have the flashiest stuff or highest spin rate, but he does have the ability to get guys out with multiple pitches.
“He knew how to pitch and was unbelievably competitive, and also, couple that with being an incredible teammate. Friends with a lot of these guys in here, including the coaching staff. Huge part of our success the last couple years.”
* The Maryland Stadium Authority approved plans today for upgrades to Camden Yards that include a new center field videoboard, right field wall display, upper deck and club level ribbon boards, and a unified control room.
The enhancements will be operational for 2026,
The Orioles say that the new center field videoboard will be two and a half times larger than the existing one, making it the 12th-largest videoboard among major league ballparks. There will be 1,125 feet of new ribbon board and 16,681,456 new pixels added throughout Camden Yards featuring 4K resolution.
