Ryan Mountcastle departed this evening’s loss to the Cardinals in the first inning. The O’s announced that he’d experienced left shoulder discomfort.
While Mountcastle is day-to-day at the moment, the O’s could turn to a top prospect if he requires an IL stint. Danielle Allentuck and Andy Kostka of the Baltimore Banner report that former #2 overall pick Heston Kjerstad is en route to Baltimore. It isn’t yet clear if a promotion for Kjerstad is contingent on a potential Mountcastle IL stint.
Speaking with the team’s beat postgame, Baltimore’s first baseman expressed concern about the injury. Mountcastle said he felt his shoulder pop on a swing (via Nathan Ruiz of the Baltimore Sun and Rich Dubroff of Baltimore Baseball). After leaving the game, he tested the injury by attempting to swing in the batting cage but continued to feel soreness. He’ll go for more imaging tomorrow.
The team will surely provide more information when it becomes available, but it’s a suboptimal time for the O’s to potentially lose one of their hottest hitters. Tonight’s loss cut their lead in the AL East to two games over Tampa Bay. The Rays are headed to Baltimore for a four-game set that could have significant ramifications for the division picture. It’s quite arguably the biggest regular seasons series of the year for both clubs, since the eventual division champion will get a first-round bye and very likely have home field advantage in the postseason until the World Series.
Mountcastle has been one of the better hitters in the majors over the past two months. He’d opened the year with one of the worst offensive stretches of his career, hitting .227/.262/.421 over his first 60 contests. Baltimore placed him on the injured list with vertigo symptoms in mid-June, keeping him out of action for around a month. Since returning on July 9, Mountcastle has raked at a .327/.406/.497 clip over 197 plate appearances.
The silver lining is that Baltimore has a number of high-upside offensive players who could step in for Mountcastle if necessary. Ryan O’Hearn has taken a significant step forward after struggling with the Royals. He’s hitting .301/.332/.500 while dividing his time between first base, the corner outfield and designated hitter. O’Hearn is already in the lineup on most days but could take on a more regular role at first base.
That’d leave some rotational at-bats for the 24-year-old Kjerstad should the O’s decide to promote him. Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic wrote this morning that the Arkansas product had put himself on the radar for a possible MLB debut but that the O’s were concerned they might not have enough at-bats to spread around. Mountcastle’s injury might open up that opportunity just a few hours later.
More to come.