LAKELAND, Fla. – Jordan Westburg is running out of ideas. He’s trying not to lose hope.

Westburg dedicated much of his offseason to getting his body ready for a full major league season, only to strain his right oblique about three weeks before the Orioles opened camp in an official capacity. He was throwing as part of his early workouts when he felt some discomfort in his elbow, and an MRI revealed a partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament.

Making the Opening Day roster is no longer in play. Westburg is expected to be out at least through April.

“You can imagine how frustrating and disappointing it is, but at the same time, what am I going to do about it?” he said this morning at his locker. “I do feel like I was doing everything the right way, or the best of my knowledge the right way, and these things are still happening. I’m going to do my best to kind of reach out to maybe some outside sources and see if there’s any help that I can get.

“At the same time, these injuries are part of the game, part of life, so I’m just trying to stay positive and take this a day at a time.” 

Durable in the minors, Westburg wonders if he can ever regain that status with the Orioles.

He was limited to 107 games in 2024 due to a right-hand fracture that put him on the IL from Aug. 1-Sept. 22. He had back soreness in spring training 2025, went on the IL twice with a left hamstring strain and a right ankle sprain, and also missed a few games after jamming a finger in late June.

“I’d like to sit here and say, ‘extremely confident,’ but some of this wears on you mentally,” he said. “So there are doubts, but 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. 

“That’s another frustrating part of this is I do feel like I was able to stay healthy and play through a lot of things, and to an extent, I did the past couple years, still playing through things that weren’t disclosed and weren’t announced, but some of these major ones, you just can’t play through. So yeah, I’d like to say that I’m extremely confident, but only time will tell.” 

Westburg received a platelet-rich plasma injection from Dr. Neal ElAttrache Friday in Los Angeles and doesn’t know when he can play again. Time and rest are all there is for the 2024 All-Star.

“Just kind of seeing how the injection is progressing and what’s going on, and then if we have to pivot, you pivot,” he said. “If not, continue to push forward.”

The tear is a preexisting injury that worsened over time and the Orioles are trying to avoid a surgical procedure. A second opinion from ElAttrache confirmed their initial diagnosis and course of treatment.

“It’s been going on for some years now,” Westburg said. “It just got to a point where it wasn’t sustainable.”

Westburg is trying to remain encouraged by other position players who had PRPs and made full recoveries. The odds are much better than with pitchers.

“I haven’t looked too much into it,” he said. “I don’t know how my specific injury or scenario coincides with theirs. I don’t know. I haven’t talked to a ton of those guys, so for me personally, yeah, it’s just kind of hope and pray that this injection does its thing and take it one day at a time.”

President of baseball operations Mike Elias claimed infielder Bryan Ramos on waivers a couple of days ago and he could keep checking the wire and explore trades. He’s got Blaze Alexander, acquired from the Diamondbacks for reliever Kade Strowd and two prospects, and can plug former top prospect Coby Mayo at third base. Jeremiah Jackson was a surprise contributor in 2025 and might break camp with the team.

“Those guys are superbly talented and just great people, great guys to have in the clubhouse,” Westburg said. “I only had limited interaction with Blaze, but just through the baseball world, we kind of know the same people and he seems like a great dude. More than held his own over there in Arizona in that role and now he’s gonna have a chance to step up for us. I think it’ll be huge. And J.J.’s the same way. We saw what he was capable of last year.

“Those guys have it handled and somebody’s going to step up, somebody’s going to play a lot of good baseball for us, and at some point I hope I can kind of join in, and whatever my role needs to be at that point, I’m more than happy to step in.” 

First baseman Ryan Mountcastle has the same confidence, but he also hurts for Westburg.

“It sucks,” he said. “Jordan, he’s such a hard worker and does all the right things and such a great guy, and it sucks that has to happen. Hopefully it’s nothing super long term, hopefully he can get  back out there. I know he’ll do anything in his power to be back out on the field. I know he wants to be out on the field. Just praying for the best for him.

“It’s not easy to cover for a guy like that. He’s a really good player. But guys are gonna do their job and then hopefully fill in for him the best they can.”

Orioles lineup
Colton Cowser CF
Pete Alonso 1B
Heston Kjerstad LF
Coby Mayo 3B
Sam Huff C
Samuel Basallo DH
Jeremiah Jackson 2B
Reed Trimble RF
José Barrero SS

Kyle Bradish RHP

Jack Flaherty is pitching for the Tigers.