NEW YORK – The Nationals left New York on Wednesday knowing they would need to make a roster move before Friday’s series opener against the Rays. Drew Millas departed yesterday’s 11-2 loss to the Yankees in the third inning after he was called for catcher’s interference during an Austin Wells at-bat against Cade Cavalli.

When Wells’ bat made contact with Millas’ catching hand while swinging at a 97 mph fastball from Cavalli, the backstop suffered a fracture and dislocation of his left second finger, putting the rest of his season in jeopardy. So the Nationals will call up C.J. Stubbs from Triple-A Rochester to fill in as the backup catcher, a source familiar with the upcoming move confirmed.

The Washington Post was first to report the news yesterday.

Stubbs’ first appearance with the Nats will be his major league debut after spending the last six seasons in the minor leagues following his selection by the Astros in the 10th round of the 2019 MLB Draft out of the University of Southern California.

The younger brother of Phillies catcher Garrett Stubbs, the 28-year-old backstop signed a minor league deal with the Nationals after the Astros released him in May 2024. In 24 games with Rochester this year following a promotion from Double-A Harrisburg, he is hitting .161 with a .602 OPS, three doubles, a triple, a homer and five RBIs.

Andrés Chaparro’s last stint with the Nationals didn’t include much playing time, to put it mildly. He appeared in only four games during three weeks on the big league roster in June.

This time around, there should be considerably more at-bats for the 26-year-old first baseman/designated hitter, who was recalled from Triple-A Rochester in a roster swap with infielder José Tena.

“He’s going to be playing against left-handed pitchers,” interim manager Miguel Cairo said. “I’m going to try to mix it up. It depends how he does. But we want to see him, and he should have an opportunity to show what he can do.”

Sure enough, Chaparro is in tonight’s lineup against Mets left-hander David Peterson, batting seventh and starting at first base, with Josh Bell back in the DH role after several starts at first base over the weekend.

The Nats saw glimpses of Chaparro’s production late last season, when he totaled 12 doubles and four homers in 33 games. But he went just 1-for-11 in his earlier stint this summer, stuck on the bench behind both Bell and Nathaniel Lowe.

The Orioles gave up on wondering what else could go wrong a long time ago.

Their luck wasn’t going to change for the better. A horseshoe would come from the thoroughbred that trampled them.

Shortstop Gunnar Henderson, starter Grayson Rodriguez and reliever Andrew Kittredge didn’t break camp with the team, and that should have provided a hint. The 2025 season was going to destroy everything in its path. It was going to break them.

Only nine players are on the active roster from the 26 who made the club on Opening Day. Seven are on the injured list, including utility player Jorge Mateo, who was questionable throughout camp after undergoing left elbow reconstructive surgery.

Remember when his status in Sarasota was worthy of daily updates?

Grayson Rodriguez underwent a procedure earlier today to remove a bone spur in his right elbow. Dr. Keith Meister performed the surgery in Dallas, and the Orioles said it was “successful.”

The club indicated last week that Rodriguez probably would have the surgery today, putting an official end to any hopes that he would pitch this season.

Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias stated in in a video call after the trade deadline that surgery was “back on the table,” and the timing should make Rodriguez available for 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 after a March 5 exhibition outing against the Twins in Fort Myers.

The initial complaint from Rodriguez was a feeling of sluggishness that robbed him of the usual velocity. The Orioles put him on the injured list before breaking camp with elbow inflammation.

The Orioles have returned home after a 2-4 road trip in Chicago and Philadelphia, with a three-game series beginning tonight against the Athletics.

Only two games separate the teams in the Wild Card race. Unfortunately, the Orioles are nine back and the Athletics are 11.

There must be more to focus on this weekend than the standings.

Ryan Mountcastle returns.

The Orioles are expected to reinstate Mountcastle from the injured list this weekend, perhaps as early as tonight. He served as designated hitter yesterday afternoon in his ninth rehab game with Triple-A Norfolk.

PHILADELPHIA – The latest count shows the Orioles with 13 players on the injured list. They can get back down to a dozen with Ryan Mountcastle’s anticipated return on Friday.

Tyler O’Neill will try to avoid it after leaving last night’s game with right wrist soreness. X-rays were negative.

O’Neill has already made two stops with neck inflammation and a left shoulder impingement, raising his career total to 16. He’s never been shelved by an injury to his right wrist, but he’s gone on the IL with a left wrist strain.

Meanwhile, Triple-A Norfolk's Vimael Machín was removed last night after one at-bat. Could be totally unrelated or he's a possibility for the 24-hour taxi squad. 

Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells are making their rehab starts and should reappear with the Orioles later this month. Good for them. That’s a long road to travel after elbow reconstructive surgery.

Keibert Ruiz walked around the Nationals' clubhouse with his usual big smile. He then had a playful interaction with CJ Abrams walking from his locker to the kitchen. All seemed normal.

Except life is still not normal for the 27-year-old catcher, who continues to experience symptoms from a concussion that has placed him on the injured list twice since June 24 and most recently since July 8.

“I feel much better than a couple weeks ago,” Ruiz said at his locker before today’s game against the Brewers. “And I'm just following the protocol. I gotta get used to noises and I'm sensitive. ... I'm doing a little bit more every day, like working out and all that stuff.”

Ruiz missed 10 days during his first IL stint after he was hit in the head by a ricocheting foul ball in the visitors’ dugout in San Diego. In just his second game back, he was struck in the facemask by two foul balls, which brought back the concussion symptoms.

The Nats chose to place him back on the IL the following day with the same concussion that had been reaggravated. Since then, Ruiz has barely been around the team, not traveling with them on road trips and not coming around the home clubhouse while trying to get his sensitivity to light and noises down.

The Nationals returned home after a week on the West Coast with high spirits. They won four of their six games against the Mariners and Diamondbacks, and now they’re about to begin a highly anticipated series with the Cubs, who own one of the best records in baseball.

And as manager Davey Martinez provided some pre-series updates on a few of his injured players, the good news kept coming as it related to their Gold Glove-caliber center fielder.

Jacob Young, who has been on the 10-day injured list since May 23 (retroactive to May 20) with a left shoulder AC sprain, officially begins a minor league rehab assignment tonight with Double-A Harrisburg. The 25-year-old was able to swing his bat and hit over the weekend, crossing off the final mark on his checklist.

So what’s the plan for Young this week?

“To play,” Martinez said. “He's been doing everything, but he finally started hitting; he felt good. The last two days, he was really taking a lot of swings. We broke it down for him as if he was playing in a game. So now he's just going to go down there and get at-bats. We'll see how he does the next few days.”

MIAMI – The Nationals’ fears from last night were realized this morning following CJ Abrams’ MRI on his right hip. The examination revealed the young shortstop has a right hip flexor strain, forcing him to the 10-day injured list.

“After last night, he got an MRI today and it showed a slight strain,” manager Davey Martinez announced to start his pregame media session. “Like I said before, I talked to him today about just, hey, let's get this thing to calm down and give you some time and get it right, so this doesn't become a bigger issue. So in a week and a half, hopefully he'll be ready to go.”

Abrams sat out the first two games against the Dodgers this week with what was originally labeled as right thigh tightness from the final play of Sunday’s win over the Diamondbacks, in which he charged in to field a grounder and threw off-balance to first base. The shortstop clarified the injury was actually in his right hip later in the week.

The 24-year-old was then removed from last night’s win over the Marlins in the fourth inning. He struck out and walked in his only two plate appearances, and stole second base after his free pass in the third. He had to stretch out his arm to stay on the bag, initially re-aggravating his hip injury. Abrams tried to play through it, but in the bottom frame, he fielded a grounder moving to his left and made an off-line throw to first in a similar manner to what he did on Sunday.

In his place, Paul DeJong slid over to play shortstop and Amed Rosario came off the bench to play third base and hit in the leadoff spot.

CJ Abrams has his first day off of the young season, not because of a bad matchup or a planned respite, but because of a tight thigh muscle.

Nationals manager Davey Martinez said the shortstop felt his right thigh tighten up while making the final play of Sunday’s 5-4 win over the Diamondbacks. Abrams charged in to field Randal Grichuk’s broken-bat grounder in the top of the ninth, then threw on the run to first, nearly pulling Nathaniel Lowe off the bag.

“He feels a little bit better today,” Martinez said. “I just wanted to give him a day, to make sure this doesn’t become a big issue.”

Asked what level of concern he has about Abrams, Martinez replied: “Right now, none. Hopefully it could’ve just been a cramp. But I want to make sure that’s just what it is.”

Abrams not only had started all nine previous games this season, but had played every inning to date. Martinez’s choice of replacement may come as a bit of a surprise: Paul DeJong.

The Nationals have placed Michael Soroka on the 15-day injured list with a right biceps strain, throwing a wrench into the team’s rotation plans just one week into the season.

Jackson Rutledge was recalled from Triple-A Rochester to take Soroka’s roster spot, but the 2019 first-round pick has made the full-time conversion to reliever, so he won’t be joining the big league rotation.

Soroka, signed this winter to a one-year, $9 million contract, made his club debut Monday night in Toronto, allowing four runs over five-plus innings. He felt fine physically until his 83rd pitch the game, a spiked slider in the bottom of the sixth, after which he looked toward the dugout and began clenching his fist.

Soroka told manager Davey Martinez and director of athletic training Paul Lessard his right biceps muscle had cramped on that pitch, and he was taken out of the game. Afterward, he expressed optimism the injury wasn’t any more serious than that and was hopeful he could still make his next turn in the rotation.

Soroka did admit he would need to throw off a mound before knowing for sure he was good to go. He played catch prior to Wednesday’s series finale against the Blue Jays and would have been on track to throw a bullpen session either Thursday (an off-day for the team) or today. The Nationals had listed him as their starter for Sunday’s series finale against the Diamondbacks.

DJ Herz is getting a second opinion on his sprained elbow ligament, one that will determine if the Nationals left-hander needs Tommy John surgery or can attempt to come back merely with rest and rehab.

Herz, who was placed on the 15-day injured list Tuesday and then transferred to the 60-day IL on Wednesday, already had an initial MRI taken that revealed a sprain of the ulnar collateral ligament. He’s now scheduled to get a second opinion in Dallas from Keith Meister, the noted orthopedist who has performed a number of Tommy John surgeries and internal brace procedures on other major leaguers. According to a source familiar with the injury, the Nationals don’t intend to wait long if surgery is suggested, preferring Herz get it done now and be able to return for the majority of the 2026 season.

Herz was one of the brightest developments of last season, debuting in June and proceeding to make 19 big league starts, going 4-9 with a 4.6 ERA but also authoring several of the team’s most dominant starts of the year. He came to camp this spring competing with Mitchell Parker and Shinnosuke Ogasawara for the fifth starter’s job but struggled with command and saw his fastball velocity drop into the upper 80s.

Herz told club officials and reporters alike he was physically fine, but that he wasn’t throwing as hard due to a lack of adrenaline. He cited similar situations playing out in previous spring trainings, noting his velocity always showed up during the regular season.

The Nationals saw some better signs during a simulated game Herz pitched late in camp, but still decided to option the lefty to Triple-A Rochester last week, giving him more time to build his arm up. After learning of the demotion, Herz informed the team he wanted to see a doctor in case there actually was something wrong with his arm.

The Nationals placed DJ Herz on the 15-day injured list this morning with a UCL sprain in his elbow, a potential season-ending ailment for the left-hander that would explain his spring training struggles.

Herz had been optioned to Triple-A Rochester on Friday, capping off a difficult spring that saw the 24-year-old deal with diminished velocity and poor results while ceding the No. 5 starter competition to fellow lefty Mitchell Parker.

At the time, club officials suggested Herz simply needed more time to get his arm in shape and that he would be in the running for a promotion back to the majors once he looked more like himself.

“We know his velo was a little bit down, but just go down there and start getting built up,” manager Davey Martinez said Friday after the demotion was announced. “And understand that last year, he only had (19) starts. He hasn’t pitched that much. So he’s going to go down there and get ready to help us.”

Herz was one of the brightest developments of the 2024 season for the Nationals, called up to make his major league debut in early June and then remaining in the rotation for most of the remainder of the year. He finished with a 4-9 record and 4.16 ERA, but he authored some of the team’s most dominant starts of the season, including six innings of one-hit ball with 13 strikeouts against the Marlins on June 15 and 10 strikeouts with one run allowed July 2 against the Mets.

SARASOTA, Fla. – The Orioles didn’t mean to become a spring training cliché. It just happened. Nothing they could do about it.

Their roster appeared to be mostly set, with few decisions pending. They were proceeding without new injuries. But a team can’t get too comfortable because something always seems to happen.

Or multiple things happen, which is worse.

Imagine being told before pitchers and catchers reported that the Orioles would begin the season with Gunnar Henderson and Grayson Rodriguez on the injured list. Oh yeah, and their new reliever, Andrew Kittredge, would appear in one exhibition game and need surgery on his left knee. How long until panic set in and counseling was recommended?

This isn’t just an Orioles thing, though some locals would argue it. Yankees ace Gerrit Cole underwent Tommy John surgery and won’t pitch this season. Rookie of the Year Luis Gil could miss three months with a lat strain. Giancarlo Stanton had platelet-rich plasma injections in both elbows. The Rays got back their ace, Shane McClanahan, after he missed the 2024 season following Tommy John surgery, and he walked off the mound Saturday with a triceps injury.

As the phrase goes the Orioles have been “getting the band back together” getting some of their injured list players back recently as Jacob Webb, Danny Coulombe, Ryan Mountcastle, Ramón Urías, Jordan Westburg and Heston Kjerstad have all made it back to the active roster.

It is a big boost to a team that recently had 12 players on the injured list.

And while the O’s pitching staff took a big injury hit even before the All-Star break, some MLB stats indicate that the Orioles have not been hurt as badly on the injury front as other clubs. At least when looking at player games missed.

This is total games that players on the injured list have missed this year for each club and each missed game counts the same whether it is an All-Star that is out or the last guy on the roster. So we need to keep that in mind.

But here are the top clubs in most player games missed to this point, according to Stats Perform:

Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias’ media availability yesterday in the home dugout at Camden Yards hinted at bad news.

That’s what happens when an organization is pelted with it. The first instinct is to assume the worst and seek shelter.

There were three options with Elias: One or more of the injured players had a setback, a roster move warranted an explanation, or he just decided to meet the press before the last homestand of the season.

Elias declined to make an opening statement, which destroyed the injury theory. And the roster went unchanged.

“If it’s all right with you guys,” he said, “I’ll just open it up to questions.”

CJ Abrams remains out of the Nationals lineup for this afternoon’s finale against the Marlins. It’s the third straight game the young shortstop will miss, but the team remains hopeful he could be available off the bench to pinch-hit.

Abrams was scratched from the lineup before Friday’s game after jamming his left shoulder while making a diving play at short Thursday night. Nasim Nuñez will make his third straight start in place of Abrams, playing shortstop and batting ninth. The switch-hitting Rule 5 pick has gone a combined 0-for-6 over the last two games.

“We're gonna hold him back,” manager Davey Martinez said of Abrams during his pregame media session. “We'll hope that maybe he can pinch-hit today. He's still feeling it a little bit, so we'll keep him down. He's getting treatment and everything. Hopefully, he can pinch-hit today and then be ready to go tomorrow.”

The Nats didn’t schedule any further testing for Abrams, specifically an MRI, and are confident there isn’t any significant damage to his shoulder.

“No, the doctor looked at it and said it's just an impingement,” Martinez said. “He thinks there's nothing damaged in there.”

Ramón Urías ditched his crutches and is offering positive news on his sprained right ankle, including his readiness to begin baseball activities in a couple of days.

Urías said earlier today that the ankle is feeling “pretty good” and “progressing fast.”

“I’m walking now, it feels pretty normal,” he said while standing at his locker. “Hopefully can start doing some baseball activities soon.”

Urías rolled the ankle while covering third base in the seventh inning of Saturday’s game in Colorado, the same night that he also was hit on the nose by a pitch and Dean Kremer exited in the fourth after taking a line drive off his right forearm.

Kremer is starting tonight. Urías won’t be ready for reinstatement when eligible on Wednesday but is aiming for a return later this month.

MIAMI – Cade Cavalli last stepped on a mound on June 21 with High-A Wilmington. It was the third – and last – of his official rehab starts as he continued his recovery from last year’s Tommy John surgery. And it was the most encouraging of his rehab outings to date: He pitched three scoreless, hitless innings.

The initial target date for his major league return was in late June/early July, which was established after his March 2023 surgery. It was approaching and there was legitimate hope he would rejoin the Nationals rotation for the second half of the season.

But that target date and Cavalli’s whole rehab process was shaken up by a subsequent case of the flu and a period in which he experienced “dead arm” when he threw a ball.

“We shot for a date and we tried everything possible to get there. And sometimes the arm just doesn't respond like we wanted it to,” said Cavalli, who once again met the Nats in Miami from the team’s spring training facility in West Palm Beach, where he was rehabbing. “It wasn't anything horrible. Good news is we're still healthy. Just had to slow it down a little bit. It's part of the TJ recovery, as you know. It's 15 to 18 months for a reason, so we're just taking it slow and easy. Making sure that it's right and that it's the right time when I get back, so that we don't have to have another setback, hopefully.”

Setbacks happen in long rehab processes. Cavalli and the Nats just didn’t expect him to have two of them in quick succession when he was sick and then felt like he wasn’t throwing as well as he should have at that point in the rehab.

DENVER - The reaction is about what you’d expect. Players watch a teammate sustain an injury and struggle to comprehend the reasoning or keep count.

Zach Eflin is reinstated from the injured list and starts yesterday’s series finale in Colorado, less than 24 hours after a 103.1 mile line drive slams into Dean Kremer’s right arm, creating a Rocky Mountain high welt above his wrist. The Orioles were dumped again into their gain-one, lose-one way of life.

Kremer has avoided the injured list and perhaps the off-day Thursday works in his favor. But he lasted only 3 1/3 innings and manager Brandon Hyde used six relievers in a 7-5 loss. Hyde said yesterday that he’d be surprised if Kremer started in the next four or five days.

Ramón Urías is hit on the nose by a 93.8 mph sinker, stays in the game and rolls his ankle covering third base. He’s on crutches and the 10-day IL, putting the Orioles’ hottest hitter on ice for an indefinite period.

If it wasn’t for bad luck …