The Orioles' lineup looks like a completely different team after slew of weekend injuries

The Baltimore Orioles won their series against the San Francisco Giants this weekend, but lost several members of their lineup in doing so. Adley Rutschman went down with ankle inflammation, Ryan Mountcastle broke a bone in his foot, and Tyler O'Neill fainted and suffered a concussion. Losing two regular starters and one bench bat who had been swinging it well in his last few opportunities is a lot for any team, and with the Orioles already having to cover for losing Jackson Holliday and Jordan Westburg in spring training, their depth is being tested more than anyone could have imagined this early in the season.

Fortunately, the Orioles came into the season with more players than could fit on the active roster, so they are uniquely positioned to survive an intense rash of injuries like the one they are facing, although positionally, it will take some creativity.

Orioles are being pushed to their limits by injuries early in the season

Starting with making up for the loss of Rutschman. Basallo will move to a more regular catching role, and Maverick Handley will back him up and make sure he doesn't get overworked. The big shift caused by that is that Basallo and Rutschman took up a lot of DH at-bats, so the question is, who will be the regular DH while Basallo is catching?

Mountcastle and O'Neill would have been the ones most qualified to fill in at DH, but they are also hurt. With that being the case, it appears a rotation of bats will have to take on the DH role.

With O'Neill down, the Orioles still have Ward, Cowser, Beavers, and Taveras to man the outfield, so they are pretty well set there. The easiest thing would be to have those four take turns being in the field and DHing. If there was a particularly tough lefty that the Orioles want to shield Cowser and Beavers from (although Albernaz does not seem to be too worried about always having the platoon advantage), they have the option to use recently called up Johnathan Rodriguez or move Jeremiah Jackson or Blaze Alexander to a corner.

Lastly, replacing Mountcastle shouldn't be too difficult. Of everyone on the opening day roster, he had gotten the fewest at-bats on the team. Pete Alonso wants to play first base every day, but on days when they want to get him off his feet and let him DH, Coby Mayo can slide back to first and cover him.

So here are some potential lineups taking the injuries into consideration

Main lineup - Biggest change here is no Rutschman at the top of the order. Basallo moves to catcher in his place, Beavers moves to DH to fill in where Basallo was and that opens up more playing time for Taveras.

1. Henderson, SS
2. Ward, LF
3. Alonso, 1B
4. Basallo, C
5. Beavers, DH
6. Taveras, CF
7. Cowser, RF
8. Mayo, 3B
9. Alexander, 2B

Protect the lefties lineup - This is where both O'Neill and Mountcastle would have factored in. With them gone Jeremiah Jackson slides in at DH and Johnathan Rodriguez takes over in a corner.

1. Henderson, SS
2. Ward, LF
3. Alonso, 1B
4. Basallo, C
5. Jackson, DH
6. Taveras, CF
7. Rodriguez, RF
8. Mayo, 3B
9. Alexander, 2B

Pete Alonso DH day lineup - Coby Mayo at first after he spent no time there this spring could be an adventure but the Orioles aren't likely to spend a roster spot on a backup firstbaseman who will only play once every other week.

1. Henderson, SS
2. Ward, LF
3. Alonso, DH
4. Basallo, C
5. Beavers, RF
6. Jackson, 2B
7. Cowser, CF
8. Mayo, 1B
9. Alexander, 3B

According to Craig Albernaz, the MRI on Rutschman's ankle was encouraging, so Orioles fans can breathe a sigh of relief that he won't be absent from the lineup for too long. Also, Jackson Holliday should get called up soon and will start factoring into the Orioles infield. In the meantime, the Orioles are fortunate to have enough depth that these cluster injuries won't sink their season.

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