WASHINGTON — The injury history of Orioles infielder Jordan Westburg has reached its most serious point.

Westburg underwent Tommy John surgery earlier today on his right elbow, according to an industry source, news that pretty much everyone knew was coming based on the latest shutdown and president of baseball operations Mike Elias’ media availability this afternoon at Nationals Park.

Position players can miss nine-to-12 months while recovering from the ligament-reconstructive procedure, while pitchers generally are down between 12 and 18. No matter the timeline, Westburg isn’t going to contribute in 2026.

Westburg reported to spring training with a sore right oblique that limited his activity, but pain in the elbow while throwing led to an MRI that revealed a partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament. Westburg received a platelet-rich plasma injection on Feb. 20 as an alternative to surgery and he began a progression in Sarasota after his shutdown period.

The Orioles shut down Westburg again earlier this month due to the discomfort that return after he increased the intensity of his workouts, which led to an appointment Monday with orthopedic surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache, who performed the surgery in Los Angeles.

Manager Craig Albernaz said on Wednesday that Westburg, his agent and “support” were reviewing the options and figuring out the next step. Westburg is repped by Scott Boras.

“Yeah, it sucks,” Albernaz said Wednesday. “I feel for him. I feel for all of our guys who get hurt. You see the work they put in every day during the season, spring training, the offseason work they put in, and in Jordan’s case it’s the oblique, then it was the arm and rehabbing the arm. It’s a lot, especially for him.

“Talking with him, he’s hanging in there best he could, but also, it weighs on you. You want to be out here competing, being with the boys, playing the game he loves, and he’s just hamstrung by this right now. So yeah, it sucks. I feel for him.”

The Orioles drafted Westburg with the 30th-overall pick in 2020 out of Mississippi State. He debuted in 2023 and has hit .264/.312/.456 in 260 games. He hasn’t played in more than 107 in a season, when he made the All-Star team as an injury replacement in 2024.

Westburg fractured his right hand on July 31, 2024 and missed almost two months. He had lower-back soreness in spring training 2025, played through an undisclosed upper-body injury and went on the IL on April 27 with a left hamstring strain. He missed multiple games in June with a sprained left index finger, which he aggravated.

It kept getting worse. Westburg returned to the IL on Aug. 19 with a sprained right ankle.

“My biggest takeaway going into the offseason was kind of like, ‘What can I do in preparation to try to put together a full season?’” Westburg said in February. “Worked really hard this year with a physical therapist to get my body feeling about as good as I have my whole career. I felt like I was doing everything right, and here we are again.”

Asked about his confidence in becoming an everyday major league player, Westburg replied, “I’d like to sit here and say, ‘extremely confident,’ but some of this wears on you mentally. “So there are doubts, but like I said, I’m going to do my best to kind of see what avenues that I can go down to maybe help bulletproof my body a little bit more. I don’t know if there’s a way to do that, but I’m going to try.”

The Orioles miss Westburg’s defense at third base and ability to play second base and shortstop. Elias said recently that the club hadn’t considered using Westburg at designated hitter but would “cross that bridge” if necessary.

Unfortunately, it didn’t get to that point. Westburg was transferred to the 60-day injured list on April 1, the PRP injection didn’t enable him to return to the active roster, and surgery became the only option left for him.

Jackson Holliday, on the IL after hamate bone surgery in February, is playing third base on his latest rehab assignment. Coby Mayo, Blaze Alexander and Weston Wilson are sharing the position with the Orioles.

The Baltimore Banner first wrote today about Westburg’s decision to have surgery.