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CHICAGO – The Orioles will get a second opinion on Albert Suárez’s right elbow after he underwent an MRI last night.
Suárez is done pitching in 2025 after the Orioles put him on the 15-day injured list yesterday with right elbow discomfort. He noticed it after throwing three innings Sunday in Toronto.
“I think in the next week we’ll have something official on him that we want to release,” said interim manager Tony Mansolino, “but we have to go through the proper channels and make sure that the treatment plan and everything is appropriate.”
The season has been a grind for Suárez, who made one appearance in March, also in Toronto, before going on the IL with a rotator cuff strain. He got into four games this month, allowing two runs in nine innings, before enduring another shutdown.
The bullpen has a new left-hander, José Castillo, a waiver claim from the Mariners who reported today.
“Always thankful when there’s an opportunity, and very thankful for this team giving me a shot now and hoping to finish strong with them,” he said via interpreter Brandon Quinones.
Castillo is listed at 6 foot 6 and 252 pounds, and he earned the nickname “Big Dude” with the Padres. It fits him.
“He’s huge,” Mansolino said. “He came walking in, said ‘hi,’ introduced myself. Big guy, looks physical. Has bounced around a couple teams here in the big leagues. Excited to have him.”
The Orioles have a dozen games remaining and evaluating Castillo will be done in a small sample size.
“I think you learn a little bit about the person,” Mansolino said. “I think you probably already learned a lot in terms of what he’s done in other places and how he’s performed in those places, both visually and also the data that’s behind it, which is probably why he got claimed in a lot of ways.
“You get to know the guy a little bit, see what he can do when he gets here. There might be something they see that our pitching group can help him out with. See if they can and you go from there.”
“There’s always pressure pitching in the big leagues,” Castillo said, “but I think you learn to control it and work past it, so I think you learn to do that over time.”
The Orioles optioned left-hander Grant Wolfram after he posted a 4.85 ERA and 1.769 WHIP in 20 appearances as a rookie.
“I felt like he was trending up quite a bit,” Mansolino said. “I felt like he had that one really good outing in the doubleheader day against the Mets. I think there’s probably five or six outings around it where he kind of sprayed the ball in a lot of ways, wasn’t in the zone, got himself in trouble. But I do feel like the last month or so he’s been really good and he’s been trending way up.
“I think this is probably more of something that is situational with claiming a guy that’s out of options. He was kind of the guy that it landed on. I think this is super normal for young relievers in the big leagues, they use their options. Wolfy impressed us in a lot of ways. We’re really proud of him and we’re really excited about him right now.”
Gunnar Henderson batting third and playing shortstop, as usual. He's 6-for-41 this month to lower his average to .269 with a .785 OPS.
That part isn't typical.
“I think you go through the whole year now, 2025 probably hasn’t been the same Gunnar we saw last year in ‘24,” Mansolino said. “Do I think that’s super unusual for a young hitter to have a year that might not be up to the standard that he set? No. I think that happens with guys, and I think he’s learning a lot about himself and his swing right now.
“I think there’s something in there, swing-wise, somewhere that he’s gonna kind of have to figure out to solve the problem here in the offseason and going into 2026, and if anybody’s going to figure it out and make the adjustment, it’s going to be Gunn. Gunn loves this stuff, he loves performing, he loves succeeding. He is not happy that he’s not having a typical Gunnar year and I’ve got a lot of faith in the guy he’s gonna figure it out going forward.”
