Tyler

Wells

Wells is out for the season and probably the first half of 2025 after having his UCL repaired earlier this week.

The internal brace gives him a better chance of returning next summer, but a 2026 return still might be the most likely scenario here. The Orioles figure to pay the $2 million or so necessary to keep him around next year in the hopes that it will pay off down the road.

In a brutal blow to the Orioles’ pitching depth, Elias announced that both Wells and John Means would undergo operations to repair their UCL’s. It’s not clear if that will be Tommy John surgery or the internal brace procedure, but both hurlers are going to miss the remainder of the 2024 season and the start of the 2025 campaign as well while recovering. The Orioles will now rely more heavily on Albert Suarez and Cole Irvin in the rotation for the remainder of the season.

Wells hit the injured list back in mid-April with right elbow inflammation and has finally been cleared to kick off a throwing program. The 29-year-old righty is still several weeks, if not longer, away from being an option for Baltimore’s starting rotation mix, which took a hit earlier this week with John Means suffering a forearm strain.

The 29-year-old right-hander didn’t bounce back as quickly as he usually would have after his last start, which prompted him to speak up — leading to his trip to the injured list. Wells and the Orioles are both optimistic that it’s just a minor issue and that he won’t require a lengthy absence, but until he resumes throwing it’s impossible to set any sort of timeline for a potential return.

Wells was scheduled to start Wednesday’s series finale against the Twins, so Baltimore will have to make a roster move to bring up a spot starter to take the ball in his absence. No word yet on how long the 29-year-old righty will be sidelined, but there should be some clarity on his status in the coming days. He’s struggled to an inflated 5.87 ERA, 1.37 WHIP and 13/3 K/BB ratio across 15 1/3 innings (three starts) this season.

Wells just hasn’t had his slider in the early going. He compensated by throwing his curve more in his first two starts, but he got away from that some tonight, which seems like a mistake; the 14 times he threw the curve produced three missed swings, a couple of called strikes and popout the one time it was put into play. We still like Wells as at least a short-term mixed-league starter, but we do want to see a better outing from him next time against an injury-weakened Twins lineup.

After a clean first inning, a double and a base hit in the second inning brought a run in for the Pirates before Joey Bart launched a two-run homer off Wells. He stranded six more baserunners through three more scoreless frames before leaving with one out in the sixth. The 29-year-old right-hander struck out three. Wells will take on the Brewers in Baltimore on Friday.

It looked like this might be an ugly one after Wells allowed two runs in both the first and second innings, but he rebounded nicely from there. The Orioles were unable to come back and pick him up, but he’ll get some wins if he keeps pitching like this. He’ll also be a stellar WHIP guy once again; he allowed five hits and no walks today, putting him at 0.833.

Wells piggybacked with Corbin Burnes in this one as he prepares to make his season debut at some point next week. The 29-year-old righty wraps up spring training with an excellent 1.26 ERA, 0.91 WHIP and 11/2 K/BB ratio across 14 1/3 innings (four appearances, three starts). He’ll start the third game of the season for Baltimore next Sunday against the Angels.