Kjerstad to report to alternate training site

The Orioles were hoping to get their first extended look at 2020 first-round Draft pick Heston Kjerstad this spring, after he missed action at both the alternate training site and at instructional league camp last summer due to myocarditis.

They will have to wait a little longer.

Originally invited to Major League Spring Training, Kjerstad will instead report to the O’s alternate training site when it reopens in Bowie, Md., next month, executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias said Wednesday. Elias said Kjerstad did not experience a setback and would report to the camp “as soon as we start.” The Orioles’ plan is for the Bowie camp to run through the start of the Minor League season in early May.

“Everything is continuing to trend very well with him and look very good,” Elias said. “It's going to be something where he's going to need a little bit more time after this layoff to go through a rehab protocol to return to game shape. But we're very hopeful that he will be able to do that this season.”

One of college baseball’s premier sluggers at the University of Arkansas, the Orioles surprised many by selecting Kjerstad second overall in last June’s Draft, signing him for a below-slot $5.2 million bonus. Later that summer, he experienced an episode of myocarditis, a viral infection that causes inflammation of the heart muscle. Elias revealed the diagnosis in February, when Kjerstad was included in the group of 22 “camp reserves” invited to Major League camp.

The club originally expected Kjerstad to report to Spring Training late due to the condition, acknowledging the timeline might be fluid. Kjerstad has not been made available to comment publicly on the situation.

“We're all eager to see him in action,” Elias said. “I know he's eager to join the activities finally after what he's what he's been through.”

As a top prospect -- ranked No. 3 in the Orioles' system and No. 69 overall by MLB Pipeline -- Kjerstad will profile differently than the majority of players headed for the alternate training site. Elias said the camp would operate with a heavy slant toward Triple-A and depth types, rather than the mix of depth and top-rated blue-chippers that populated Bowie last summer.

Without mentioning any specific players by name, Elias indicated the organization’s lower-level prospects -- six of its top seven per MLB Pipeline fall into this category, including Adley Rutschman, Grayson Rodriguez and DL Hall -- would remain at its Twin Lakes complex in Florida until their seasons begin.

Elias also said the alternate training site roster might play exhibition games against other geographically convenient teams, like the Orioles did before the 2020 season resumed last July. He stressed the importance of the return of Minor League baseball for the O's development goals; as a rebuilding club, it remains to be seen how far the pandemic pushed back their competitive timeline.

“We’ve got to start getting back to normal,” Elias said. “In terms of just the development and instruction that was missed last year, yes, we were able to replicate a good bit of that at our alternate [training] site and our instructional league, but only for some of the players and only in some ways. For some guys, it may have been more beneficial in their particular situation. … But overall, for the whole population of players, it's a big negative impact for us to not have Minor League baseball across across the levels. Because I think certain players need failure, different types of failure, they need game experience, they need to face unpredictable competition on different nights, they need to get used to the professional game.

“There is a filtration component to it as well, and an evaluative component. We're missing that data. We're missing it on our own guys, but we're also missing it for other team's prospects. I know the whole industry is starved for that. We’ll just be happy that it's getting off the ground. 2021 is not going to be the same as 2019. But it's going to be better than 2020.”