The Orioles are creeping ever closer to having the offense that they thought they would have for this season. Tuesday afternoon brought another two Orioles players back from the injured list, as the team activated both outfielder Cedric Mullins and infielder Jordan Westburg from the IL. In corresponding moves, the team optioned outfielder Heston Kjerstad to Triple-A Norfolk and designated Emmanuel Rivera for assignment.
Westburg’s return was expected today after he’d been rehabbing with Norfolk for the last ten days or so. Mullins making it back off the IL is a bit more of a surprise, since he was not sent out on a rehab assignment at all. The last game Mullins played for the Orioles was on May 28. Let’s hope the hamstring injury was in fact that minor. For Westburg, it was nearly a full month earlier than that, last playing with the O’s on April 29. Westburg has also been on the IL with a hamstring strain.
Kjerstad being optioned here is a disappointing development. The team didn’t really have much of a choice. He’s batted just .192/.240/.327 for the season, making him one of the worst batters out there. He’s been particularly bad in clutch situations, and his defense is bad too. The Orioles would surely rather be getting something good from their former #2 overall pick. For whatever reason, that is just not the way it is. This is a reminder when it comes time to think about trading prospects: Some guys ain’t gonna be good, and you won’t know which ones until they show up and ain’t good.
The difference between the Orioles having Kjerstad and having another Ramón Laureano-level player around is about three wins in the standings. That’s nothing to sneeze at. The comeback math would be a lot easier if the Orioles were 29-35 right now.
Rivera was a fun story late last year, arriving for the last month or so of action and firing off a .972 OPS over 27 games. That has not been what has happened with him in 2025. Rivera is OPSing just .578 across 25 games. He could not be optioned to the minors and now that Westburg is back, there’s no need for a righty bat on the bench who isn’t hitting and doesn’t offer much other value. Mike Elias probably didn’t lose much sleep over the idea of having to designate Rivera.
Earlier today on Camden Chat, John Beers pondered whether getting injured players back would help the Orioles out against left-handed pitchers. They’ve been bad. Mullins has done well in the left-left matchups and was batting well overall, with a .771 OPS for the season. Westburg, a righty, had not been doing well against lefties or in general, with just a .657 OPS so far. That needs to improve for the team’s fortunes to improve.
The two other O’s who are expected to return soon, Gary Sánchez and Tyler O’Neill, also have not been doing well, either against lefties or in general. Those other roster moves are seemingly coming another day.
