Chris Davis out for year after hip surgery
BALTIMORE -- Chris Davis has yet to play for the Orioles in 2021. He won’t.
Davis underwent arthroscopic hip surgery on Wednesday that will sideline him through the end of the season, Orioles general manager and executive vice president Mike Elias announced. Dr. Mark Muller performed the operation in Dallas, Texas, to repair Davis’ left labrum, Elias said.
"This is a procedure that typically carries a return to play in a baseball context of anywhere from four to five months,” Elias said. "So he projects to be out for the season. But it is a timeline that would allow him to return and participate in a full Spring Training next year. We anticipate that he'll be fully recovered at that time.”
Sidelined since the beginning of Spring Training with a lower back strain, Davis had been rehabbing near his Texas home since the Orioles broke camp. The 35-year-old has one year remaining on his seven-year, $161 million contract that expires at the end of the 2022 season. He has not spoken publicly about the injury.
This is the latest in a series of medical setbacks for Davis, who was limited to 16 games in 2020 with chronic left knee issues. Davis hit .115 without a home run in 2020; the 2013 and ’15 MLB home run champion has slashed .196/.291/.379 (80 OPS+) with 92 home runs and 762 strikeouts in 534 games during the span of his current contract, which he signed after ’15.
"This is something that we had come to in conjunction with him and working through some of the discomfort and pain he was experiencing during Spring Training in his lower back and hip region,” Elias said. “Ultimately, this was decided upon as the course of action that will hopefully be curative. But there will be a somewhat lengthy recovery time for Chris. He’s home. He's doing well, everything went very smoothly. And he's on the road to recovery right now.”
Also from the trainer’s room
The Orioles also learned Wednesday that infielder/outfielder Richie Martin suffered a non-displaced left wrist fracture in his collision with the center-field wall Tuesday night at Triple-A Norfolk. The O’s primary shortstop in 2019, Martin missed all of 2020 after fracturing his right wrist in Summer Camp.
The recent injury won’t require surgery, but is still expected to sideline Martin for 8-12 weeks.
“This really stinks, for us and for him, especially. I feel really badly for him that another ill-timed injury has occurred,” Elias said. “Another really tough turn of events for a guy that we like a lot, and who plays really hard. He’s unfortunately had some unlucky injuries the last few years, but we're going to do everything we can to get him back before the end of the season and get him back into baseball action, if it's at all possible.”
Harvey getting close
The prognosis is improving for right-hander Hunter Harvey, who is pitching in simulated games at extended Spring Training and could return from the 60-day injured list by early June, according to Elias. Harvey tore his left oblique in Spring Training, after missing significant time in each of the past six seasons to arm injuries.
The former first-round pick made 17 big league relief appearances from 2019-2020, pitching to a 3.00 ERA with 17 strikeouts in 15 innings. He will likely require an official rehab stint before being activated.