Orioles get devastating injury update as they head into the All-Star break

After an up-and-down season with more downs than ups, it seemed like things were finally starting to go the Orioles' way. They finally won four games in a row for the first time all season, and their offense had been humming since the calendar flipped over to July. After completing their sweep of the Royals, the Orioles were going into the All-Star break just two games back of a playoff spot, the closest they'd been since their series win against the Dodgers in mid-June. After weeks of feeling like a deadline fire sale was inevitable, they were suddenly right back within striking distance of the postseason. Then suddenly the other shoe dropped: manager Craig Albernaz revealed postgame that utility man Blaze Alexander had suffered a fracture in his hand when he was hit by a pitch in the 7th inning and is going to miss a lot of time.

For many teams, losing your utility man hurts, but the impact is relatively minor. Most teams have a lot of versatile defenders in the minors or can trade for one in a pinch; they move on to the next best guy and expect a slight dip in production. For the Orioles, losing Blaze Alexander is a much bigger deal than that. Alexander is more than just a guy who can play a lot of positions and hit at the bottom of the order. For the last two and a half months, he has been a pillar in the Orioles' offense, and if not for his contributions, the team would be one of the worst in the American League.  

Blaze Alexander has arguable been the Orioles best player this season

For the season, Alexander is slashing .308/.364/.434. His playing time was limited at the start of the season, so he's not a qualified hitter, but he was getting close, and if he had made it to the qualified hitter mark, he would have been in the mix for a batting title. If you look at his stats since May 1st, when he started to turn his season around, he is slashing .365/.410/.528. He was one of the best hitters in baseball during that stretch, all while bouncing around the diamond playing every position except first base, catcher, and pitcher (and he would have played those positions if they'd asked).

This is not the kind of player that can easily be replaced. There is no next man up that is going to give you two months of an .900+ OPS. There's not even another player on the Orioles with a batting average over .260; this team is going to dearly miss Blaze Alexander.

So far, the Orioles have not put a timetable on Alexander's return. If how they've handled injuries so far this season continues, they likely never will. In general, a nondisplaced hand fracture takes about 4-6 weeks to heal, but that's not factoring in how long it will take to heal to the point where it can stand up to the pressures of professional sports. Even if Alexander rushes back and only misses about a month, hand injuries are incredibly detrimental to hitters. Adley Rutschman's 2024 down spiral began with a hand injury he tried to play through, and Taylor Ward has not looked the same since being hit in the hand back in April. So even if Alexander returns, it wouldn't be surprising at all if he looks significantly hampered compared to the player he's been up to this point. There is no way around it; this is a major blow to the Orioles.

This injury occurring on the eve of the All-Star break helps a little bit becuase Alexander won't miss as many games, and it gives the Orioles a few days to regroup and figure out how they are going to piece together third base in Alexander's absence.

They have the option to have Mayo go back to being the everyday third baseman, but they tried that already at the beginning of the season, and the Mayo at third every day experience was rough. Both Mayo and the Orioles have looked a lot better since he became a short-side platoon guy who plays the field once or twice a week.

The other internal options are Jackson Holliday and Jeremiah Jackson, or if the Orioles want, they could call up Christian Encarnacion Strand, who has played well at Triple-A Norfolk this season. Any one of those options might be fine for a patch job, but if the Orioles know that Alexander is going to be out for two-plus months, they may have to consider aggressively pursuing a third base option at the trade deadline.

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