One day after Orioles closer Félix Bautista underwent surgery to repair the rotator cuff and labrum in his right shoulder, catcher Adley Rutschman landed on the injured list again with a strained oblique and might not return in 2025.
The hits keep coming in the most negative manner.
Rutschman was scratched from Tuesday’s lineup in Boston with discomfort in his right side. He hadn’t played since Sunday in Houston.
This is the opposite side from Rutschman’s previous strain, which led to his first career stop on the injured list and cost him five weeks of the season.
Asked whether Rutschman could be out for the rest of the summer, interim manager Tony Mansolino replied, “Hard to speculate on that.”
“I think it’s similar,” he said. “My understanding is that it is low grade, it’s very mild, so knowing Adley, how I know him, he’s gonna do everything he can to get back and play at some point this year. I don’t think he’ll pack it in and shut it down.
“Now, if the injury’s bad enough, then so be it, but we’re hopeful, optimistic, that there’s a possibility we will see him again.”
Rutschman is batting .227/.310/.373 with 16 doubles, a triple, nine home runs and 29 RBIs in 85 games, a disappointing follow to his back-to-back All-Star selections. He was 11-for-53 this month with four doubles and a homer.
The Orioles recalled Daniel Johnson to give them an extra outfielder. Jeremiah Jackson is starting at third base tonight.
Rookie Samuel Basallo will be the primary catcher, with Alex Jackson backing up.
“Which means, when you have an everyday catcher, they don’t catch seven in a row,” Mansolino explained. “That’s not how this thing goes. We haven’t used Adley that way. So Sammy will catch, right now, in my mind, it’s probably a couple days and then be off. We’ll kind of go from there. We might see him at first base at some point, but I’m not sure if we’re gonna do that quite yet just because he’s gonna be spending so much time getting behind the dish and trying to learn how to be a catcher in the big leagues and call the right pitches for a brand new staff essentially, that we’re probably gonna have to take our off-days as off-days and make sure he stays healthy. He also has a little bit of a track record on the injury list, so we’ve got to take care of him.
“My guess is, of these eight games at home, we’ll probably see him catch five or six of them. Maybe DH him, maybe at first base. But there’s gonna be a couple off-days, too, the same way all everyday catchers have.”
The Orioles carried three catchers only because they wanted Rutschman and Basallo in the lineup at the same time.
“In the current iteration of our roster, it’s gonna be Sammy and Alex,” Mansolino said. “One will be playing most likely. There will be some days where you have them both in there, but it won’t be very often. So I’d rather have the extra outfielder.”
The injury news is better on infielder Jordan Westburg, who’s day-to-day with a sore right ankle.
“Hoping we can avoid an IL,” Mansolino said, adding that the Orioles might be able to keep Westburg on the bench for four-to-six days, like earlier this season after he sprained his left index finger.
“We try to save those last four days instead of taking the 10-day penalty with the IL. So we’ll kind of see. But he is feeling better today.”
Backup catcher Gary Sánchez is hitting as part of his progression from a right knee injury, but he won’t be ready before the middle of September.
“He’s doing a lot of baseball activity, but with the knee, catching, it’s a little bit trickier,” Mansolino said.
The Orioles are still digesting the loss of Bautista to a torn rotator cuff and labrum. He had surgery in Los Angeles and will miss at least 12 months.
“We feel sorry for ourselves. We’ve had so many injuries this year, and the record, but that’s very secondary to Félix,” Mansolino said.
“This is tough for Félix. You have the elbow injury. You’re at top of the world in terms of being a reliever in major league baseball and the road that he had to get to that point. He wasn’t this super prospect that just flew through the minor leagues. He had to go to a second organization, spend a long time in the minor leagues, and then to get to Baltimore and do what he did was really remarkable. And the future is so bright and then, boom, the elbow. And then you come back, you get back to being Félix again, and then, now the shoulder.
“We just feel for Félix, it’s tough for Félix. It’s sad in some ways. But the good news is we’ve got a great medical staff, we’ve got great people in the medical world, that they’re gonna get him back to being himself at some point. It’s just gonna take a little bit of time.”
Mansolino spoke to Bautista prior to the surgery and the road trip.
“He’s handling it as good as he can,” Mansolino said. “It’s just tough circumstances. We feel for him. He’s a tough guy, he’ll be all right. I feel for his family, we feel for him. It’s an unfortunate part of the game.”
Basallo and outfielder Dylan Beaver are making their home debuts tonight. Beavers is in right field.
“It’s exciting for our fans to see them for the first time, but I wouldn’t make too much out of it,” Mansolino said. “The big moment for a major league player is that very first day, and in a weird way, you make that debut on the road, when you get home, you’re actually able to be yourself a little bit more, which is important for these guys.
“It’s another baseball game for these guys. They played a couple games in the big leagues now and the confidence is growing. It’s a good clubhouse for those guys to kind of integrate into. They look around and there aren’t a lot of 40 year olds in there. It’s actually a lot of guys who are about the same age as them, so there’s very much a bring-them-along mentality in there as opposed to the push-them-down mentality that you get in some places for young guys. So it’s a really good culture and environment for two young players to come into.”
Beavers said he was “super excited” to see the atmosphere here. He was given a tour of the facility.
Nothing has surprised him about life in the majors.
“I can’t think of anything I wasn’t expecting,” he said. “I felt a little more comfortable than I thought I would have. After the first game or so, I feel like I’ve settled in. I feel like it’s baseball now.”
Beavers has cracked the Top 100 prospect lists with Baseball America and ESPN, which can give the Orioles an extra draft pick if he’s named Rookie of the Year in 2026. He must remain in the rankings to start the season.
“It’s cool,” he said casually. “This is where I want to be. I don’t really care much about the prospect lists. I want to be up here helping them win ballgames. I don’t think into it too much.”
Basallo, who has five RBIs in three games, conducted his interview in English rather than using interpreter Brandon Quinones.
“It feels great to be here, just happy to be here,” he said. “It’s great to give my 100 percent every time. Just super excited.
“Each day I’ve been feeling much better, more confident.”