SARASOTA, Fla. -- Nobody is more upset by Jordan Westburg's injury troubles over the past 19 months than the 27-year-old Orioles infielder himself. He wanted the 2026 season to be different, and instead, he'll miss Opening Day -- and at least the first month of the season -- due to a partial UCL tear in his right elbow.
"You can imagine how frustrating and disappointing it is," Westburg said Sunday morning in the O's Spring Training clubhouse. "But at the same time, what am I going to do about it? I do feel like I was doing everything the right way, or to the best of my knowledge the right way. And these things are still happening."
It's been one unlucky incident after another for Westburg since he fractured his right hand by getting hit by a pitch on July 31, 2024, which caused him to miss nearly two months.
Here's every ailment Westburg has endured since then:
Spring Training 2025: Lower back soreness, returns by Opening Day
Late March/early April 2025: Undisclosed upper-body injury, plays through it
April 27-June 10, 2025: Left hamstring strain, goes on injured list
Mid-June 2025: Left index finger sprain, misses multiple games
Late June/early July 2025: Reaggravates left index finger sprain, misses multiple more games
Aug. 19-Sept. 16, 2025: Right ankle sprain, goes on IL
Mid-January/February 2026: Tweaks right oblique, limited early in Spring Training
Mid-February 2026: Imaging reveals partial UCL tear in right elbow, receives platelet-rich plasma injection on Feb. 20
Westburg was never an injury-prone player in the Minor Leagues. In fact, the Mississippi State product (who was taken with the No. 30 overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft) played 112 games in 2021, 138 in '22 and 135 in '23 (the year of his big league debut).
After Westburg played 107 games in '24 and only 85 in '25, how confident is he that he can get back to posting and being an everyday presence in Baltimore's lineup?
"I’d like to sit here and say extremely confident. But some of this wears on you mentally," Westburg said. "So I mean, there are doubts. But I’m going to do my best to see what avenues that I can go down to maybe help bulletproof my body a little bit more. I don’t know if there’s a way to do that, but like, I’m going to try, you know?
"That’s another frustrating part of this, is I do feel like I was able to stay healthy and play through a lot of things. And to an extent, I did the past couple years, still playing through things that weren’t disclosed and weren’t announced. Some of these major ones, you just can’t play through."
For now, there's not much Westburg can do, as he was told to rest and give the PRP injection he received Friday time to work its course. The hope is that Westburg can avoid surgery and could return to the Orioles at some point this season, though he's already been ruled out through the end of April.
There is a track record of MLB position players getting PRP injections for elbow injuries and returning to play without getting surgery. Among those who have done so include Shohei Ohtani and Bryce Harper.
"I don’t know how my specific injury or scenario coincides with theirs. I don’t know a ton of those guys, I haven’t talked to a ton of those guys," Westburg said. "So for me personally, it’s just kind of hope and pray this injection does its thing, and then take it a day at a time."
With Westburg and second baseman Jackson Holliday (broken hamate bone in right hand) both starting the season on the IL, the Orioles' starting infield will look quite different than initially projected. First baseman Pete Alonso and shortstop Gunnar Henderson will be in the lineup, with Blaze Alexander and Coby Mayo the front-runners to start at second and third, respectively.
Infielder/outfielder Jeremiah Jackson could also now break camp with the O's and serve as valuable depth, as the 25-year-old is capable of playing both second and third.
It's a blow for the Orioles to not have Westburg, who has been one of the team's best hitters when healthy, slashing .264/.312/.456 across 260 career games. But he's confident the depth assembled by the club will be enough to fill the void left by his absence.
"Those guys have it handled. And somebody’s going to step up, somebody’s going to play a lot of good baseball for us," Westburg said. "At some point, I hope I can join in, and whatever my role needs to be at that point, I’m more than happy to step in."