Orioles injury update: Bad news for Tyler O'Neill, and maybe Grayson Rodriguez too

Well, here we go. On Thursday afternoon, we got word about two more Orioles players being shut down with injury. Outfielder Tyler O'Neill is dealing with what the team called left rib cage soreness. He was scratched from Thursday's game and until we learn more, we're left to assume that he doesn't have a firm timetable to return.

In addition to O'Neill, it was also announced that righty Grayson Rodriguez has some lingering triceps soreness. He's scheduled to be evaluated further this morning and we'll hopefully be able to provide some additional insight in the coming days.

Both of these losses come on the heels of Gunnar Henderson going down with an intercostal strain that could potentially put his status for Opening Day in jeopardy, and Andrew Kittredge being shut down with a knee issue. Thankfully infielder Jordan Westburg returned to the lineup on Thursday afternoon but he went 0-3 with 2 strikeouts. It'll take a bit of time for him to get back up to speed, considering he had only appeared in one spring game prior to yesterday.

The potential loss of O'Neill is unfortunate, but it's tough to say that it's surprising. If there's one thing the righty has been known for during his career, it's an inability to stay healthy and on the field. Despite having the physique of a body builder (his father was actually an award-winning body builder years ago in Canada), O'Neill just can't stay healthy.

The injuries are already mounting for the Orioles early in spring training

During his seven year career, O'Neill has managed to play in at least 100 games in just two seasons. One of those was 2024, in which he appeared in 113 games and showcased enough of his potential for the Orioles to get on board and sign him to a three-year deal. To be fair, O'Neill was healthy for the entire COVID shortened 2020 season, but that year he played in just 50 games.

The Orioles signed a number of depth outfielders this winter and already have Heston Kjerstad on deck, so it shouldn't be a major issue if O'Neill has to miss time. Still, it's a disappointing result to see him already dealing with injury this early in his Orioles tenure.

The news about Rodriguez is a bit more disheartening. The righty has seen diminished velocity this spring, and part of that is reportedly due to him working on a new pitch and trying to adjust his approach to limit the stress on his lat, which he injured in both 2023 and 2024.

However, despite Rodriguez coming out and claiming that he wasn't concerned about his short or long term health, here we are just days later seeing the news about him dealing with yet another injury issue. It's possible that Rodriguez's delivery just isn't conducive to him staying healthy, but we obviously don't have the insider information that the Orioles development team does, so it's impossible to say.

One thing is for sure, though. Rodriguez missed time with a lat injury in both of the last two seasons. As a result of that, he came into 2025 with a specific plan to adjust his delivery to try to correct for that issue. It's certainly possible that this lingering triceps soreness is an isolated incident, and it's also possible that it doesn't amount to anything and he returns to the mound this weekend in full health.

But Rodriguez's diminished velocity, coupled with his injury history, as well as this most recent injury news, makes it tough to be optimistic about the outlook. We'll cross our fingers and hope for the best, and we'll wait and see what happens.