Orioles sustain their first injury

Nolan Reimold came out of the Baltimore Orioles’ 6-5 win over Pittsburgh yesterday after one at-bat. Reimold had alerted manager Buck Showalter of some shoulder soreness, and later said that he didn’t feel comfortable “fighting through it” in spring training. (For the record, in Reimold’s one at-bat he became one of the four Orioles to homer in yesterday’s win, so obviously the soreness didn’t impact how he swung a bat.) This is something that potentially should concern Orioles fans, especially given Reimold’s injury history. He was forced to cut his 2009 (rookie) season short when he had to have achilles surgery, and many feel that he was still recovering from that going into 2010 when he spent most of the year in the minors. Last season he missed most of the year with a herniated disc in his back.

However I’ll submit one ray of hope into the fray on Reimold. I injured my right shoulder a few years ago playing basketball. Each autumn and spring I have a few weeks where it hurts me pretty badly (when the seasons are changing), but after awhile the pain goes away. For lack of a better term, it’s just “one of those things.” I have no idea why Reimold is having pain in his shoulder, however barring a hidden injury in that area of which we currently don’t know I suspect that it’s just something he has to ride out. I’ve read that there are more muscles in your shoulder areas than any other part of your body, so it’s much easier than most people think to injure something. (With all of this said, please know that I”m not a doctor…!)

Courtesy of Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

I think that the biggest concern for the time being is that Reimold might lose some time on the field. However looking forward to today’s game against Tampa it’s doubtful that Reimold would have made the trip to Port Charlotte anyways. However the bigger picture is that this is a player that’s had the last few years marred by injuries and ineffectiveness, and him having to sit out of the lineup is not something that Orioles’ fans wanted to hear. Buck Showalter said that Reimold would take a day or so off from throwing and they’ll re-evaluate where he is at that time.