BOSTON — The hits keep on coming.
No, not those hits. Those have been hard to come by for the Orioles.
The Orioles have spent most of the season as one of MLB’s most injured teams, and they maintained that reputation Saturday.
Outfielder Ramón Laureano was placed on the 10-day injured list Saturday with a sprained left ankle, the Orioles announced about an hour before Game 1 of their doubleheader against the Red Sox. Utilityman Terrin Vavra’s contract was selected from Triple-A Norfolk to replace Laureano on the 26-man roster.
Laureano suffered the injury while attempting to make a play in the outfield Tuesday against the Milwaukee Brewers. His IL stint is retroactive to Wednesday, meaning the earliest he could return is May 31. The veteran has been one of the Orioles’ best players this season with an .852 OPS and 1.2 wins above replacement, which ranks fourth on the team by Baseball-Reference’s estimation. Baltimore signed Laureano for $4 million this offseason.
The Orioles’ number of players on the IL has been in double digits for most of this month. It dipped to nine once Andrew Kittredge came off the IL on Wednesday, but it’s back at 10 now with Laureano on the shelf. There is perhaps no better illustration of how this season has not gone to plan for the Orioles, who enter Saturday with a 16-33 record, than catcher Maverick Handley, infielder Emmanuel Rivera, outfielder Dylan Carlson and Vavra all being on the roster at the same time.
Vavra, 28, is hitting .317 with an .838 OPS in Triple-A this season. He’s had limited time in the majors, but the lefty hitter owns a career .294 average and .840 OPS in the minors. He’s played all nine positions in his minor league career, though he’s a natural second baseman who can also play the corner outfield.
The Orioles acquired Vavra from the Colorado Rockies in the Mychal Givens trade in August 2020. He made his MLB debut with the Orioles in 2022 and made the club’s opening day roster after an excellent spring training. He’s a career .254 hitter in 138 MLB at-bats. He was on Baltimore’s roster for one day last season but did not appear in a game. Injuries derailed his 2024 season after he underwent shoulder surgery in the previous offseason, suffered a groin injury in June and an illness in July.
In other roster news Saturday, left-hander Trevor Rogers is the Orioles’ 27th man and is eligible to pitch in Game 1 in relief or start Game 2, which is scheduled to begin at 6:35 p.m. Rogers was on the taxi squad Friday to likely start Game 2 of that doubleheader before the contest was postponed, the second rainout of the weekend. If Rogers pitches Saturday, it will mark his season debut for the Orioles after struggling in four starts with them last year following the trade that brought him to Baltimore in exchange for prospects Kyle Stowers and Connor Norby.
Have a news tip? Contact Jacob Calvin Meyer at jameyer@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/JCalvinMeyer.
Originally Published: May 24, 2025 at 1:15 PM EDT
