The Orioles have a few players battling injury problems right now and the news has not turned out for the best for all of them. With Hyun Soo Kim’s name absent from the Tuesday lineup card, it seems clear that he is headed for the disabled list due to his hamstring injury.
That puts the Orioles in a bit of a bind, though of course good teams are going to have to overcome difficulties like this. They will also be without Chris Davis in the starting lineup for a second consecutive game. Davis, who has been battling a virus, wasn’t even in the stadium for last night’s game. He is, at least, well enough that he’s in the clubhouse on Tuesday.
To replace Kim on the roster, the Orioles have gone outside of the 40-man roster to bring up Julio Borbon from Bowie. Someone you probably don’t care much about seems to be headed to the great DFA in the sky before game time tonight.
UPDATE: The roster move is now official and Henry Urrutia has been designated for assignment. The only surprising thing about that is that it took this long for them to do it. Urrutia had been demoted from Norfolk to Bowie earlier this year and when you are his age and headed the wrong direction, that’s not a great sign. (end update)
Borbon, 30, is a veteran of four MLB seasons who has been kicking around the minors since his last big league action in 2013. Over his MLB career, he has batted .272/.318/.347 in 863 plate appearances to date.
The question of why they would call up Borbon from Bowie rather than one of the Norfolk outfielders is likely answered by none of the Norfolk outfielders really forcing their way into the picture. Borbon, a lefty like Kim, has batted .289/.353/.373 for Bowie this year.
That’s not all that great either, but it’s enough, apparently. Baltimore Baseball’s Dan Connolly tweeted that Borbon is “a favorite of Showalter’s for his outfield defense and speed.” Maybe he’s actually even good at one or both of those things.
Oh, and on the subject of injuries, Matt Wieters is day-to-day after being hit by a pitch in the foot in Monday’s game. The X-rays came back clean but Wieters is also absent from tonight’s starting lineup.
Which gets us this starting nine for Vance Worley’s third start as an Oriole:
- Adam Jones - CF
- Joey Rickard - LF
- Manny Machado - 3B
- Mark Trumbo - RF
- Jonathan Schoop - 2B
- Pedro Alvarez - DH
- J.J. Hardy - SS
- Caleb Joseph - C
- Ryan Flaherty - 1B
That hardly looks like the lineup of a first place team, but actually, no matter what happens in tonight’s game, the Orioles will end the night in first place. Get well soon, all you ailing Orioles. They need you.