Baltimore Orioles Officially Place Star Slugger on Injured List

Another one of the Baltimore Orioles stars has gone down with an injury.

Jul 6, 2024; Oakland, California, USA; Baltimore Orioles first baseman Ryan Mountcastle (6) walks off the field at the end of the top of the fourth inning against the Oakland Athletics at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum / D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY Sports

The Baltimore Orioles are in a dogfight to win the AL East in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1973-94.

Considering all the injuries that star players on this team have suffered, it's pretty remarkable they are entering Monday's slate just 1.5 games back of the resurgent New York Yankees.

Already without Kyle Bradish, John Means, Tyler Wells, Grayson Rodriguez, and Zach Eflin in their starting rotation, the Orioles are also missing Jacob Webb and Danny Coulombe in their bullpen, and Jordan Westburg and Jorge Mateo from their lineup.

That is quite the list of names who are on the shelf, and considering at least three of those players are out for the remainder of the year, it's going to be hard for Baltimore to make a deep playoff run like they were expecting when the season got underway.

Unfortunately, the bad news doesn't stop there.

The team announced they have moved star slugger Ryan Mountcastle to the 10-day IL.

We have made the following roster moves: pic.twitter.com/GMJdDkEJTn

— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) August 26, 2024

Initially receiving a day-to-day diagnosis for his sprained wrist, the Orioles could no longer operate with a short bench, causing them to make this move and recall Livan Soto from Triple-A.

While Mountcastle hasn't been as prolific with the long ball like in years past, he's still been a solid hitter with an OPS+ of 109 and offensive bWAR of 1.4.

Baltimore tried to put off the inevitable since Aug. 22 when he suffered this injury sliding head-first into second base.

At the time, it didn't seem like it was a big deal since he wasn't removed from the game until the ninth inning, but when he didn't appear in the next three games, the writing was on the wall that this could be coming.

Hopefully this is something he can return from immediately when he's eligible to come off the IL on Sept. 2, missing the minimum amount of time without having to do a rehab stint.

In the meantime, Ryan O'Hearn is expected to get the majority of work at first base.