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Orioles Share Bad News About Starting Pitcher's Health Situation

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Joe Rutland | Last updated Jul 19, 2025 12:25 PM ET

This season has been one that the Baltimore Orioles probably want to end as soon as possible. Their injury report has not been pretty at all and the team got more bad news about one of their starting pitchers.

Right-hander Grayson Rodriguez has been working hard to return from a right lat strain. It appeared that Rodriguez might be on the good path toward getting back into MLB action this season.

Well, not so fast. Rodriguez reportedly felt some discomfort in his right elbow, leaving Orioles interim manager Tony Mansolino to share the bad news with Orioles media members. For now, Mansolino said that the club will "pull back" on Rodriguez's rehab work.

Baltimore Orioles' pitching staff cannot catch a break as right-hander Grayson Rodriguez gets pushed back in his rehab work

“We had to pull back a little bit on Grayson,” Mansolino said, MLB.com reported. “We’re going to pull back, we’re going to reevaluate, and we’ll probably have more information on that in the next week or so.”

Here's the timeline of everything injury related that has happened with #Orioles right-hander Grayson Rodriguez over the past year: https://t.co/CBVDYCQDGj pic.twitter.com/fwYRGfrG1F
— Jake Rill (@JakeDRill) July 18, 2025

It's not the first time that Rodriguez has felt this elbow discomfort. It happened during Spring Training and led him to go on the Injured List. The IL has been the Orioles' Achilles heel this season with pitcher after pitcher finding their way on there.

Rodriguez had a pretty solid 2024 season for Baltimore, posting a 3.86 ERA with 130 strikeouts in more than 20 starts. Learning that he's going to be out of action for any more length of time doesn't bode well for him to get back this season. Rodriguez was Baltimore's top pick in the 2018 MLB Draft.

“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,” Rodriguez said on June 13. “Really just kills me.”

Rodriguez has not pitched in an MLB game since July 31, 2024. The Orioles' starting rotation has been a mess, depending on veterans like Charlie Morton to carry their weight. In Friday's 11-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays, Morton got beaten up by the hot Rays' offense.

Is there any hope for the righty to come back at all this season? Mansolino wouldn't speculate on that at all. “I don’t know the medicals, I’m not a doctor,” Mansolino said. “So again, I think in a week or so, once we kind of go through the right channels, I think we’ll have a better idea. But that’s not for me to speculate on.”

For now, Baltimore fans probably want the team to sell off as many assets as possible at the MLB Trade Deadline in the hopes that next season will be better.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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