O's prospect Gausman won't be promoted now

BALTIMORE -- At this point, Orioles No. 2 prospect Kevin Gausman is not being considered for any kind of promotion. O's executive vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette confirmed Tuesday afternoon that the 22-year-old right-hander is not in the Orioles' immediate plans.

"Gausman is doing fine," Duquette said of last year's first-round Draft pick, who has a 3.35 ERA in seven Double-A starts. "I'm going to tell you he's not a candidate for us to recall him. He's doing fine at Double-A, and he's getting used to professional baseball."

The Orioles have just three starters on their active roster right now with the injuries to Wei-Yin Chen (right oblique strain) and Miguel Gonzalez (blister), causing a roster shuffle and furthering concern over an inconsistent rotation. But the team remains hopeful that Gonzalez will miss just one turn, and Jair Jurrjens is expected to be added to the roster to start Saturday.

Gausman -- who will likely be in Baltimore before the end of the season -- is scheduled to pitch for Double-A Bowie on Thursday, and he doesn't necessarily have to pitch at Triple-A before coming to the Majors.

"What did we do with Manny Machado last year? Where did he go?" Duquette said. "Double-A is the real proving ground, if they do well there. I like to see players do well at Double-A and get a foundation so that when they do come to the big leagues, they can succeed. So the proving ground is Double-A.

"He's doing fine where he is. He's doing fine. He's getting his feet on the ground and learning about the routine of pro baseball."

Gausman has allowed 20 runs (15 earned) on 40 hits over 40 1/3 innings, striking out 39 and walking just four.