BALTIMORE -- Grayson Rodriguez began the 2025 season on the injured list due to right elbow inflammation, an ailment he experienced after reporting soreness in his triceps in mid-March. The 25-year-old right-hander then sustained a right lat strain during his recovery in late April.
Despite the setbacks, one thing remains true: Rodriguez is confident he’ll pitch for the Orioles at some point during the second half of this season.
“Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I’m pretty confident with that,” Rodriguez said on Friday afternoon, when he spoke to the media for the first time since Spring Training. “Exactly, I don’t really have a week or anything specific, but yeah, definitely going to pitch this year.”
It’s been a challenging sequence of events for Rodriguez, who was expected to take another big step forward this year. The 2018 first-round Draft pick and former top prospect would have been slotted in near the top of Baltimore’s rotation for his third big league season.
Instead, Rodriguez has spent the entire year trying to work his way to full health. His elbow/triceps area is no longer an issue, as he’s been focused on strengthening his lat during his throwing program, which has featured exclusively flat-ground sessions in recent weeks.
Rodriguez believes he’ll begin throwing off a mound next week. That step could begin a six-week buildup that would put him in consideration for the O’s rotation by potentially late July or early-to-mid August.
“Just focusing on the lat and kind of figuring out what might be causing it, whether it’s mechanical or something we’re doing in the weight room or something prep-wise,” Rodriguez said. “Right now, just trying to figure out exactly what’s causing it.”
Unfortunately for Rodriguez, lat injuries have become a constant in his professional career.
This is the third time in four seasons Rodriguez has missed time due to a right lat issue. He went on Triple-A Norfolk’s injured list from June 4-Sept. 6, 2022. Then, his ‘24 season ended because of a lat injury that prevented him from pitching after July 31.
“This one’s similar to last year. So very minor,” Rodriguez said. “But then again, you don’t want it to happen again, because then it can turn into something bigger. So right now, just trying to figure out why it keeps happening and how I can eliminate it in the future.”
In the absence of Rodriguez -- as well as fellow right-handed starters Kyle Bradish (Tommy John surgery), Tyler Wells (UCL repair surgery) and Albert Suárez (subscapularis strain) -- the Orioles’ staff has largely struggled. The O’s rank 27th in MLB with a 5.16 rotation ERA, though Charlie Morton tossed five dominant innings in Friday’s 2-0 win over the Angels at Camden Yards.
Rodriguez has a 4.11 ERA in 43 big league starts over the past two seasons. But the 6-foot-5 righty was putting together a strong sophomore campaign last year, recording a 3.86 ERA and 130 strikeouts in 116 2/3 innings over 20 outings.
“I think that’s probably one of the tough parts about it,” Rodriguez said. “Obviously, you can’t ever figure baseball out, and if you say you’ve figured it out, it will humble you really quick. But yeah, my confidence was really high, and I think that’s one thing that I’ve struggled having to deal with is knowing that I’m where I want to be right now, but not being able to go out there and pitch every five days. Really just kills me.”
Like Rodriguez, Baltimore’s front office, coaches and players believe he’ll be back this year.
“The expectation that every injury is going to go perfect and the rehab is going to go perfect, it’s unrealistic. These are humans, the human body heals differently. So I think in Grayson’s case, he had the elbow, right? He was cooking, here comes the lat. It’s another kind of wrench in the plans,” interim manager Tony Mansolino said. “I think there is optimism in the building that we’re going to see him here in the second half, without a doubt.”
The season hasn’t gone anywhere close to planned for the Orioles (28-40), either. Injuries have been a big part of that, as Rodriguez is among 19 players who have spent time on the IL.
But the belief remains that there’s time to turn things around, and Rodriguez -- who has been with the team in Baltimore throughout his rehab process -- is confident in that as well.
“Obviously, we got off to a slow start. But this clubhouse hasn’t changed. It feels like the same clubhouse we had in ‘23 or last year. There’s no tension, there’s no drama,” Rodriguez said. “When you can have a good clubhouse like this, you expect to win games. And right now, we’ve been playing a lot better. So I think we’re going to really get on a hot streak here and I think we’re going to finish the season how we want to.”