Feb. 12: Holliday had profitable surgical procedure right now to handle his fractured hamate bone, based on a number of experiences, together with from Matt Weyrich of the Baltimore Solar. The second baseman is anticipated to be sidelined a number of weeks past Opening Day.
Feb. 11: Orioles second baseman Jackson Holliday will open the 2026 season on the injured checklist after struggling a fractured hamate bone in his proper hand throughout reside batting apply on Feb. 6, president of baseball operations Mike Elias introduced to the workforce’s beat this morning (hyperlink through Andy Kostka of the Baltimore Banner). He’ll doubtless miss the primary a number of weeks of the season.
Elias additionally added that infielder Jordan Westburg suffered an indirect harm three weeks in the past whereas coaching however is barely anticipated to overlook the primary few video games of Grapefruit League play (through MASNsports.com’s Roch Kubatko). The workforce isn’t involved about his Opening Day standing at this juncture. Righty Colin Selby, in the meantime, is coping with irritation in his proper shoulder and is anticipated to open the season on the injured checklist (per Matt Weyrich of the Baltimore Solar).
The Holliday harm is essentially the most notable of the bunch. The previous No. 1 choose and prime prospect had been in line to open the season at second base after hitting .242/.314/.375 with 17 homers and 17 steals in his age-21 season with the O’s final yr. Second base will now presumably fall to some mixture of commerce acquisition Blaze Alexander and utilityman Jeremiah Jackson. Alternatively, Baltimore may play Westburg at second base and provides Coby Mayo some run at third base to start the season.
Many followers on social media have been fast to leap to the conclusion that the Holliday harm was a driving issue behind Baltimore’s acquisition of Alexander in final week’s commerce with the Diamondbacks. Nonetheless, the timing was a matter of happenstance; Holliday truly suffered the fracture in his hand/wrist the day after the Alexander commerce was accomplished. Maybe there was some modest concern about Westburg’s indirect on the time, however Holliday’s harm didn’t have any influence on that swap.
Hamate fractures are comparatively frequent. Stars Francisco Lindor and Corbin Carroll are at present in comparable boats for the time being. The ensuing surgical procedure sometimes sidelines gamers for anyplace from 4 to eight weeks. Hand accidents of this nature can typically have a lingering influence on a participant’s energy output even after he’s cleared to return to the sphere, although each case is exclusive unto itself, after all. Assuming Holliday certainly hits the injured checklist, this can the primary main league IL placement of his younger profession.
As for Selby, there’s much less certainty on his outlook for the time being. The Orioles acquired him from the Royals in a July 2024 swap sending money again to Kansas Metropolis. He spent the remainder of that yr and nearly all of the 2025 season in Triple-A, however the 28-year-old righty was efficient in 14 huge league frames in 2025. These 14 innings came visiting the lifetime of 11 appearances and noticed Selby maintain opponents to 5 runs (3.21 ERA) on 16 hits and simply two walks with 14 strikeouts. Selby additionally tossed 25 2/3 innings of two.45 ERA ball on the Triple-A degree, fanning 31.5% of his opponents there.
Selby’s IL placement opens up some house within the workforce’s Opening Day bullpen competitors, which may create a neater path for lefty Grant Wolfram, righty Yaramil Hiraldo or out-of-options right-hander Rico Garcia. Proper-hander Chayce McDermott, too, may discover himself in that blend. He’s been a starter previously, however Elias stated right now that the 27-year-old righty will probably be used as a reliever within the upcoming season (through Kostka). Righty Tyler Wells, in the meantime, will construct up as a starter. There’s at present no clear rotation opening for him, however stretching out in camp will create some insurance coverage for rotation accidents. Wells may open the season in a protracted reduction position within the ’pen or within the rotation with Triple-A Norfolk; he nonetheless has two minor league possibility years remaining.
