The Baltimore Orioles placed All-Star infielder Jordan Westburg on the 10-day injured list Thursday as part of a flurry of eight transactions.
Westburg, 25, sustained a broken right hand when he was hit by a pitch from Yerry Rodriguez in the fifth inning of Wednesday’s 10-4 win against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Manager Brandon Hyde told reporters after the game that he is hopeful Westburg can return to the lineup before the end of the regular season.
“He’s got a fractured hand and we have to wait and see how that heals,” Hyde said. “It’s terrible. He wants to be here. He wants to play. It’s tough.”
The injury could create an opportunity for top corner infield prospect Coby Mayo, but the Orioles haven’t called him up yet. They do have an open spot on their 40-man roster.
“I’m sure you’ll see Coby here at some point,” Hyde said.
Westburg is batting .269 with 18 home runs and 58 RBIs in 101 games this season. The first-time All-Star has made 64 starts at third base and 35 at second base.
Baltimore activated three players acquired at Tuesday’s trade deadline: outfielder/designated hitter Eloy Jimenez, outfielder Austin Slater and left-hander Trevor Rogers, the starting pitcher for Thursday night’s series opener at Cleveland.
The busy Orioles also recalled infielder Livan Soto from Triple-A Norfolk, optioned left-hander Keegan Akin and outfielder Heston Kjerstad to Norfolk, and designated outfielder Cristian Pache for assignment.
Hyde said the decision to option Kjerstad was difficult.
“We think extremely highly of Heston,” he said. “It doesn’t mean Heston isn’t going to be back with us soon. This is just the decision we made for right now where our roster is. We have good outfielders here and everyday playing time wasn’t available right now.
“Hopefully down the road it will be. It’s never easy sending a guy down who is as good a player as Heston is.”
Field Level Media and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
