PHILADELPHIA – Grayson Rodriguez won’t pitch in 2025. The last flicker of hope is doused.

The elbow discomfort that shut down Rodriguez again will lead to a debridement procedure next week to clean out some bone fragments. The surgery is expected to happen a week from today.

Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias stated Friday in a video call that surgery was “back on the table," so today's news was more of a confirmation. The timing of it should make Rodriguez available in spring training.

Rodriguez hasn’t appeared in a regular season game since July 31, 2024 against the Blue Jays. He went on the injured list with another lat strain that kept him off the Wild Card roster, and he didn’t pitch in spring training after a March 5 outing against the Twins in Fort Myers.

A drastic decline in velocity that day led to speculation about an injury. Rodriguez said he felt “sluggish,” and the Orioles put him on the injured list before breaking camp with elbow inflammation. Rodriguez also felt soreness in his triceps, but the first setback in his recovery was caused by another lat strain that prevented him from engaging in an April bullpen session.

Asked in June in his first interview with beat writers since spring training whether he’d pitch after the All-Star break, Rodriguez replied, “Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I’m pretty confident with that.

“Exactly, I don’t really have a week or anything specific, but yeah, definitely going to pitch this year.”

The elbow flared up again and ruined those plans. His season is over before he could set it in motion.

Rodriguez was expected to slot behind Opening Day starter Zach Eflin and finally reach his ceiling as a staff ace after the Orioles made him the 11^th pick in the 2018 draft. He’s experienced three separate lat strains, but the elbow procedure will mark his first surgery.

“We feel for him. The whole organization feels for him,” said interim manager Tony Mansolino.

“That’s a guy that we’re really counting on here in our organization to get us where we want to go in terms of the season and the postseason, so very unfortunate. It’s not for a lack of effort by any means by him or by our medical staff or by the people who are involved. It’s just a very unfortunate set of circumstances.”

The hope is that a healthy elbow will also eliminate the chances of Rodriguez straining his lat again. He made an adjustment in his arm slot this year to lessen the pressure on it.

“I don’t feel qualified to talk on that,” Mansolino said. “That’s more of a medical thing, so it’s hard for me to speculate on that.”

The rotation should add Kyle Bradish later this month barring a setback, and Tyler Wells could join him or be used out of the bullpen. Cade Povich returns tonight. But the Orioles will wait a lot longer on Rodriguez.

First baseman Ryan Mountcastle won’t join the Orioles until they return to Camden Yards. He remains on the injured list with a hamstring strain and will be in Triple-A Norfolk's lineup on Tuesday.

“He’s feeling better today,” Mansolino said. “I don’t expect to see him here in Philadelphia. I think it’ll probably most likely be home if all goes well.

“Just kind of slowing things down a little bit. We’ve talked about these rehab assignments. It’s hard to put specific dates on them. You have hopeful dates plus or minus a few days, and I think this will be minus a few days.”

Mansolino didn’t have an update on closer Félix Bautista, who’s on the injured list with inflammation his right shoulder that made the results on his MRI inconclusive.

Tyler O’Neill is the designated hitter tonight after missing the past two games with an unspecified illness.

“There’s dehydration, there’s stuff involved,” Mansolino said. “I think everybody in this area has been sick and knows what that entails. He was pretty sick, he wasn’t feeling good, so just want to make sure, especially with his history, too, that we ease him into this the right way. He’s really been progressing for us and really carrying us in a lot of ways, so extra cautious for one more day. He’s gonna DH and most likely he’ll been in the outfield the next couple days.”

Dean Kremer and Trevor Rogers start the next two games of the series. The Phillies are starting Taijuan Walker and left-hander Ranger Suárez.