SARASOTA, Fla. – The Orioles suffered another big loss before playing any games.

Infielder Jordan Westburg has a partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. He’s receiving a platelet-rich plasma injection today from Dr. Neal ElAttrache in Los Angeles.

President of baseball operations Mike Elias announced the injury earlier today.

A second opinion from ElAttrache confirmed the Orioles’ diagnosis and plan for treatment, with an attempt to avoid a surgical procedure. The chances are better for a position player than a pitcher, with starter Kyle Bradish an example in 2024.

Elias said Westburg will be out at least through April. He also explained that Westburg has experienced some discomfort in the elbow in previous years but it lingered after he began throwing this spring. This is apparently a preexisting tear.

“Reported some elbow soreness to our training staff several days ago during the throwing,” Elias said. “He said that this is elbow soreness that he’s had before, but usually it doesn’t persist to the degree that he felt like it was. Our exams with him, we were a little bit concerned, so we had imaging ordered a few days ago and the imaging revealed a partial tear in his ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. Aspects of this appeared chronic, so it’s something that he’s had for a long time, though it’s not something that had risen to the level of team care or anything like that. But it apparently pretty flared up right now.

“Dr. ElAttrache agreed with our team’s assertation that we should attempt to treat this conservatively. So Jordan’s gonna receive a PRP injection today in California and then come back to camp and we will attempt to rehab the injury with PRP and strengthening and time. That’s gonna take Jordan obviously out of camp and he’s be out of consideration for Opening Day. In terms of the timeline of this, he’s gonna be out for February, March, the month of April. After that, it’s too soon to get too specific with how much time he’s gonna miss, but he’s gonna start the season on the IL.”

Westburg reported to camp with a strained right oblique, which he suffered about three weeks before his arrival. The early prognosis was a few missed exhibition games and probably nothing to impact availability on Opening Day.

That’s changed.

“I feel terrible for him,” Elias said. “He’s one of our hardest workers and just one of our best teammates, and I know everybody’s feeling for him and he’s had a lot of terrible luck, but the good news is that our doctors and Dr. ElAttrache are optimistic this is something where we can avoid surgery. It’s just gonna be some time and some work, and we’re pretty confident that we’re gonna get him back pretty soon.”

The decision came down to surgery now that could be a permanent solution or try to get him through however much of the season remains when he’s ready.

“There’s a tradeoff there, but if the surgery might not be necessary and it’s a possibility that it’s never necessary, I think you do what you can to avoid it, and particularly with a position player. But I’m probably a little out of my depth speculating about all this,” Elias said. “But we’ve had a lot of top people look at it and they think this is something we should approach non-operatively.

“It (PRP) historically works quite a bit. With a position player, I think the overall onus on the joint or whatever is, it’s a lower bar, so everybody who’s looked at this case has optimism that this will work. But we’ve got to do it and put in the time and see what happens.”

Injuries keep sidelining Westburg since he debuted in the majors in 2023. He was limited to 107 games in 2024 due to a right hand fracture that put him on the IL from Aug. 1-Sept. 22. He had back soreness in spring training 2025, went on the IL twice with a left hamstring strain (April 27-June 10) and a right ankle sprain (Aug. 19-Sept. 16), and also missed a few games after jamming a finger in late June.

The lineup and infield will miss Westburg, an injury replacement on the 2024 American League All-Star team who batted .264 with 26 doubles, five triples, 18 home runs, 63 RBIs and a .792 OPS.

Westburg played in 85 games last summer and hit .265/.313/.457 with 10 doubles, a triple, 17 home runs and 41 RBIs.

“I wouldn’t say concerning or anything. It’s just more of, you feel terrible for Westy,” said manager Craig Albenaz. “You know, like the same thing we thought about with Jackson (Holliday). He put a ton of work in this offseason, worked his butt off, and now this happens. We’ll be fine. It’s a big blow for us for sure, but also, it’s just more feel for Westy, and all the work he’s put in. We’ll support him and we’re gonna make sure he has everything he needs to get back on the field.”

The club intended to use Westburg mostly at third base and also have him back up at second. Holliday will have the stitches removed from his right hand on Monday after his surgery to remove a broken hamate bone, and he’s also going on the injured list.

“It’s gonna be tricky,” Elias said. “Missing Jordan for any reason at any time is always tough, but you know, it’s part of the game and we’ll work around it and we’ll figure out the best way to carry forward, and look forward to getting him back as soon as possible and as strong as possible. But Holliday’s injury, while that’s a shorter term, having both of them out simultaneously for some amount of time in April and during this camp adds another layer of trickiness to it.”

Elias didn’t talk specifically about Westburg when asked about the possibility of returning as a designated hitter, but he said, “I think that is generically with a UCL injury with a position player, they’re ready to hit prior to being ready to play defense on the field. Whether that’s something we’re going to be going down that road with him, it’s way too soon and way too many factors to speak to that.”

Coby Mayo is starting at third base today, where he’s worked out daily in camp and where the Orioles began his professional career.

“He’s good,” Elias said. “He’s moving good. I mean, he’s a great defender for his size and his body type, and he’s got a ton of arm strength and he’s a natural infielder. But the hot corner at the major league level’s really hard and getting to that level of play is something that he’s been working on. But I think he’s in a really good spot. He looks better than eve so far and we want to keep watching him.”

“It’s an opportunity for all our guys,” Albernaz said, “but Coby in particular, he’s putting great work in with Miguel (Cairo) and Buck (Britton) right now. The intensity, the focus to detail, the attention to detail has been outstanding with them. Obviously, the game is always the biggest indicator of where he’s at, but the work up to this point has been outstanding.”

Elias didn’t commit to Mayo only playing third base. He moved across the diamond to first last summer.

“I don’t know about strictly, but we’re see him a lot at third base,” Elias said. “No. 1, it’s something that he’s always done and we’ve been developing, and he’s played there for much of his life. No. 2, we’ve got a new coaching staff that wants to see him and work with him over there and evaluate him over there. And No. 3, we just signed Pete Alonso and that puts a pretty big presence at first base. And then No. 4, both Holliday and Westburg are gonna be out for this camp, so there’s a lot of runway for anyone over at third to play there.

“So I do think we’re going to see Coby a lot at third base. What that means for the season or long term, I don’t know yet, but we’ll be watching him a lot there this spring.”

The waiver wire, free agent and trade markets also could provide a solution to losing Holliday and Westburg.

“I think we have good alternatives here and we’ll be exploring those guys and assessing them during camp, and I’m pretty happy with that, but certainly this has picked up our conversations outside the organization when it comes to infielders,” Elias said. “And like I said, the concurrent Holliday outage adds to that.”

Blaze Alexander isn’t in today’s lineup. Jeremiah Jackson is playing second base. But Alexander already has proven to be a smart pickup in the trade with Arizona. He’s beginning to project as an everyday player.

“That being highlighted has come way too quick,” Elias said. “Neither of these injuries were in place when the trade happened, believe it or not. We just knew that we would need more quality infield depth than just having our four main guys, you need more than that. So we made the trade for Blaze and he’s gonna be obviously a big presence now. He was gonna be anyway, but he’ll be front and center in this camp as one of our front line infielders. But we’re gonna continue to see him in the outfield and you’ll see him play in the outfield in this camp because that’s part of who he’s gonna be on the team long term, as well.”

*Minor League pitcher Keagan Gillies sustained a pretty severe quadriceps strain that is expected to sideline him for at least six weeks.

“He won’t be able to participate or be visible in this camp,” Elias said.

For the Orioles

Gunnar Henderson SS
Pete Alonso 1B
Samuel Basallo C
Tyler O’Neill RF
Colton Cowser CF
Adley Rutschman DH
Heston Kjerstad LF
Coby Mayo 3B
Jeremiah Jackson 2B

Trevor Rogers LHP