Orioles pregame notes on Rutschman, rotation, order and more

The Orioles’ injured list swelled to 15 players but is going to lose some weight with Kyle Bradish’s return this week to the active roster. A few more names are dropping off.

Catcher Adley Rutschman is trying to be among them.

Rutschman strained his right oblique and won’t be reinstated when eligible Thursday. However, he intends to play again next month.

“That’s the plan and I’m working as hard as I can to come back as soon as possible,” he said.

Rutschman missed five weeks with the same injury on his left side.

“I think I’m more optimistic,” he said. “You’re gonna have to talk to someone else about the actual medical stuff. I don’t know exactly. But just trying to do what I can.”

Samuel Basallo has become the starter in Rutschman’s absence, and today marks a full week in the majors.

“It’s been awesome to have him here,” Rutschman said. “And obviously, with his contract, extremely happy for him and excited. Just a great person, great teammate, so it’s been great.”

Basallo received an eight-year extension with a club option, the largest for a pre-arbitration catcher. Rutschman is approaching his first year of eligibility.

Asked whether he’s aware of any negotiations on his behalf, Rutschman laughed and paused before talking again about Basallo.

“I’m happy for Sammy and just excited to be there yesterday and support him.”

The front office made a big financial commitment under new ownership and could be sending a message to other young players and the fan base.

“I think they want to win, we want to win, and I think for everyone in this locker room the goals are the same,” Rutschman said. “We want to win a championship and that’s kind of the extent of it.”

Rutschman had veterans Robinson Chirinos and James McCann to mentor him after he went from No. 1 prospect to major leaguer. Now he can pay it forward with Basallo, though Chirinos remains as bench coach.

“I’m here to help,” he said. “We’ve got Robby and me and Ajax (Alex Jackson), so a lot of great people around. I know how I felt when I was a rookie coming up, and it can be a lot, but just here to help out as much as possible and try to help him get accustomed to everything going on in the big leagues.”

The Orioles have an unsettled rotation again with Brandon Young on the injured list and Bradish returning from it to, presumably, make Tuesday night’s start.

Interim manager Tony Mansolino indicated again today that Bradish will be on the mound, saying he would “probably bet on it.”

Cade Povich is pushed back to Thursday afternoon, which leaves Dean Kremer for Friday night in San Francisco.  

No one is listed for Wednesday night because of Young’s hamstring strain and indecision on a replacement.

“We’ll have to figure that out because that was B.Y.’s spot, so we’ll figure out who that is,” Mansolino said. “We’ve had conversations. We’re not ready to say anything yet. We’ve got to finalize that.”

The Orioles are carrying nine relievers but will get down to eight with Bradish’s return. A bullpen game isn’t under consideration, according to Mansolino.

Jackson Holliday goes to the bench today and Colton Cowser is in the leadoff spot. Holliday is 13-for-78 (.167) this month.

“Just giving him a blow,” Mansolino said. “I looked this morning, I think he’s played (121) games already. He’s on pace to play 150-plus at age 22 season. It’s a lot of games for the kid, and he’s done great. I feel like the last couple weeks he’s probably been a tick off on both sides of the ball. To me, he played his butt off for 3 ½ months, has had a couple weeks that haven’t been to the standard that he set for himself, and I think today just giving him a blow mentally, physically, is probably the right play.”

Dylan Beavers is batting sixth today for the second time since the Orioles selected his contract. He’s staying in the lower third of the order “for the rest of the season,” Mansolino said.

“For a variety of reasons,” he added.

“He’ll stay down there, (Samuel) Basallo will stay down there. And then we’ll figure out kind of the top of it here as we go on days where Jackson or Gun (Gunnar Henderson) aren’t in there, which hopefully isn’t too many days.”

Basallo is hitting fifth today.

Mansolino explained Cowser batting first as a way to avoid making wholesale changes.

“We scored 15 runs in the last two nights. Why move everybody?” he said.

“Just try to let guys be comfortable in the spots that they’re in for the rest of this year, considering kind of where we’re at, record-wise. In the future, would I be open to left-handed lineups, right-handed lineups, given some of the recent performance in some way? Sure. For this year, leave it alone.”

Rosters expand Sept. 1 and the Orioles could reinstate pitcher Tyler Wells and infielder/outfielder Jorge Mateo from the injured list. Mansolino referred to it as “good speculation.”

“We’ve got to stay healthy,” he said. “We might need more than that with how this thing has gone.”

The Orioles have moved Triple-A pitcher Chayce McDermott to the bullpen for short bursts and he’s responded with seven consecutive scoreless appearances in 7 1/3 innings. He’s walked two batters and struck out 10.

The former prospect is a consideration for the major league bullpen.

“I haven’t seen the reports but I’ve heard the reports and there’s a lot of optimism behind it,” Mansolino said. “It sounds like our pitching group, our front office people, there’s some excitement about him in that role and it’s gone pretty good. His name has popped up here a couple times. He’s just got to keep doing his job and pound the strike zone and attack hitters. And there is plenty of opportunity up here for guys who perform.”