Mike Elias sat down inside the Orioles’ home dugout at Camden Yards on Tuesday afternoon, reached into the left-breast pocket of his navy blue blazer and pulled out a slip of paper. “I have notes,” he said. Baltimore’s executive vice president and general manager spent the next six minutes hashing out a lengthy list of injury updates.

This is the current state of the ballclub. It’s mid-April and the Orioles are 6-9 heading into a three-game series with the Cleveland Guardians dealing with a frustratingly long list of absences.

“Is it a factor in our slow record to start the year? Yes,” Elias said. “Is it an excuse or a totality of the reason? No. There are other teams going through it, too, so it’s just something that we continue to deal with and we try to amass the most depth that we can.”

Zach Eflin and Grayson Rodriguez

First up on the sheet, Zach Eflin. Baltimore’s veteran right-hander at the front of the rotation was placed on the 15-day injured list last week, retroactive to April 8, with a right lat strain. Elias said that he’ll start playing catch in a few days but “we’ll have to see how that goes and kind of take it from there.”

Elias leaned on his go-to phrase for optimistic injury news: He’s hopeful the IL stint “will be measured more in weeks than in months.”

Eflin was the Orioles’ No. 2 starter heading into last year’s playoffs, behind Corbin Burnes. This spring, he took the ball on opening day when the team’s presumed ace, Grayson Rodriguez, was shut down with sore triceps and an elbow injury suffered in the spring.

Rodriguez has thrown two bullpen sessions and is handling both well physically, according to Elias. His most recent featured off-speed pitches. He’ll throw another bullpen session Thursday.

“That’s good news,” Elias said. “But we still have a lot ahead of us in terms of bullpens, buildup, live [batting practice], ultimately rehab assignment, and I’m not ready to assign a timetable to his recovery yet.”

The Orioles are sure to need a fifth starter sometime this week. Charlie Morton is set to pitch Tuesday and the club announced starters through Thursday. Brandon Young, who was transferred from Triple-A Norfolk to High-A Aberdeen on Tuesday, is “at the forefront of the conversation,” Elias said. Baltimore could also be counting on 37-year-old former All-Star Kyle Gibson as soon as May 1.

Albert Suárez

Albert Suárez, who was the darling of the 2024 pitching staff when he emerged from the woodwork as a surprise contributor, hit the IL with inflammation in his shoulder after his lone relief outing in Toronto. Elias called it a large muscle strain; the subscapularis muscle region in the front part of his throwing shoulder that should sideline him for most of the season, if not all of it.

“This is something that’s gonna take a while to heal,” Elias said. “He’s a few weeks away from testing out playing catch. We’ll just kind of let him rest and heal up.”

Elias continued. He rubbed his thumb across that paper as if he were trying to erase half of his list. It’s a long season. But this is the Orioles’ April reality.

Andrew Kittredge

Baltimore signed Andrew Kittredge to a one-year, $10 million deal in January hoping that he could help shore up the bullpen as Félix Bautista ramps back up to feel strength. By March, he underwent arthroscopic knee surgery. The good news is he “continues to fly along with the rehab” and is starting to throw bullpen sessions, Elias said.

“We could get him into a live BP the week after next, and once you’re at that stage you start to talk about rehab assignments a few weeks after that,” Elias added. “So all said, there is a possibility that he puts himself in position to be activated before the end of May, but there’s a lot of time left there. But so far it’s moving along at the front end of the window from recovery from his knee surgery.”

Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells

Pitchers Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells are in similar circumstances.

Bradish, who underwent Tommy John elbow reconstruction surgery in June 2024, threw a bullpen session within the past week. He’s “on track,” Elias said, which could have him back on the mound in the later half of the summer.

Wells is eyeing a similar timetable but just a tad behind Bradish. Elias said that Wells, who opted for the internal brace procedure with the potential for a quicker recovery, has not started his mound progression yet.

Chayce McDermott and Trevor Rogers

Pitchers Chayce McDermott and Trevor Rogers are both multiple bullpen sessions deep, tracking on similar timetables. They’re nearly ready to face live hitters in Florida next week.

“We’ll take it from there,” Elias said, with the thinking that they could potentially be activated before the end of May.

Colton Cowser

Elias wasn’t able to offer much on outfielder Colton Cowser. The 2024 American League Rookie of the Year runner-up, who was expected to ascend this season for a team with World Series aspirations, slid into first base during the fourth game of the season and broke a bone in the tip of his thumb.

“He’s staying in game shape,” Elias said, “but there’s not a whole lot you can do when your thumb is broken. I can’t predict exactly how quickly a bone is going to heal, but kind of hopeful for a late May, early June target for him.”

Enrique Bradfield

The Orioles’ No. 3 prospect, Enrique Bradfield hit a triple in Double-A Bowie last week and pulled up rounding second base. Elias was at that game. He said that an MRI revealed a mild hamstring strain that’s going to require a few weeks recovery.

It’s a new injury for Bradfield but “not a huge deal,” Elias said, projecting the outfielder to get back into the lineup by the middle of May.

Samuel Basallo

Lastly, there’s Samuel Basallo. Baltimore’s top prospect and No. 13 overall in Baseball America’s Top 100 rankings dealt with elbow soreness in April. He’s recovering well on that front, Elias said, but on April 5, he pulled a hamstring. Elias called it a “milder hamstring type of strain that’s healing.” He could return as a designated hitter within a couple weeks and potentially be back to catching sometime in May.

Six full minutes later, Elias could finally fold up and tuck away that wretched piece of paper. Injuries aren’t the only reason the Orioles haven’t won any of their first five series for the first time since 2010. But they’re certainly front facing.

“We’re 6-9. That’s disappointing. I wish we were 9-6,” Elias said.

“Still see an enormous level of talent in this team. Still see a playoff team. We’re going to keep pushing away and working to get things back into place, to the degree that they aren’t in place, and doing everything we can across the organization to improve things and improve our record, and I think it’s going to happen.”

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