TAMPA, Fla. -- Just as Heston Kjerstad’s long road toward an Orioles debut appeared near, the top prospect has hit another significant setback.

Kjerstad has a “higher grade” strain of his left hamstring that will sideline him eight to 12 weeks, executive vice president and general manager Mike Elias revealed on Wednesday, dealing another blow to a promising young slugger who has been through a career’s worth of setbacks in only two years since getting drafted.

Baltimore’s No. 9 prospect per MLB Pipeline, Kjerstad has yet to make his professional debut, missing 2021 due to a myocarditis diagnosis (inflammation of the heart wall) that stemmed from COVID-19. He will miss Minor League Opening Day on April 5, and the organization’s focus now is a cautious return to action. No surgery is believed to be required -- just rest, rehab and recovery.

“Obviously, a horrible blow for a guy that was getting back up on his feet after a very unfortunate health situation that he is looking like he's overcome,” Elias said. “Terrible timing, very unfortunate, but it's a matter of time, and I think at this point, his hamstring is going to bounce back. It's just a more pile-on of lost repetitions that we're going to have to worry about and try to make up for as much of it as possible.”

Kjerstad was a full-go, health-wise, at Minor League camp in Twin Lakes, Fla., before he sustained his hamstring ailment diving for a fly ball in left field in an intrasquad game on March 11. For the club, the glimmer of hope comes in that this is a more common muscular/soft-tissue injury instead of the complicated nature of his recent internal illness.

“His cardiac issues continue to look like they're behind him,” Elias said. “We're going to stick with him and get him past this.”

And if anything, landing on the other end of this setback is a Kjerstad the Orioles hope is rejuvenated, focused and grown from these series of struggles.

“Amazingly, just as he has all along, it's really proven the mental fortitude that we knew we had when we drafted him,” Elias said. “Really, to basically sit dormant for a year like he did when he had to, and then build himself back into game shape, be out there getting base hits with his peers, and then have this happen, it stings. But he's taking it like he takes everything. … It's certainly not how you would have scripted out his first couple years of pro ball by any measure, but I’m not worried about his mental ability to get over the next step.”

Elias, Mancini on arbitration
The O’s came to terms with left-hander Tanner Scott on a salary figure for 2022 on Tuesday, but Elias confirmed on Wednesday that the club expects to see the arbitration process out with its remaining two eligible players -- outfielder Trey Mancini and lefty John Means.

Baltimore could always come to terms with either player before then, but it has labeled itself as one of many “file and trial” clubs, meaning it tends to cease negotiations once the deadline to exchange salary figures -- which was Tuesday -- passes. A hearing would be set for some point during the 2022 season, delayed due to the lockout (usually, these are heard by a panel of independent arbitrators in February).

“We do everything that we can to avoid going to these hearings, that's why we use the word ‘avoid’ when we reach a settlement,” Elias said. “Nobody really wants to do that, but when you don't see eye to eye and you're at an impasse, that's the process that's set up.”

When asked, Elias didn’t specify if the Orioles have had any talks about extensions or multiyear deals with Means or Mancini. But there is a large amount of intrigue following Mancini, who’s a free agent following the 2022 season and whose name swirled in trade rumors this past offseason.

Mancini said he was surprised the O’s and his camp did not come to terms and avoid arbitration, but the ongoing process won’t take away from his focus on the field -- and no hard feelings will be attached.

“You leave it up to the arbiters and then you go on with your life, and it's not anything I'm going to mention or let affect me on a daily basis. It's nothing I'm going to bring up,” Mancini said. “It is a little unfortunate, I think, that it could be during the season. But again, with the lockout, that's just the way that it has to be. It will not be a distraction in the slightest bit, in my opinion.”

Mancini, who is in his final year of arbitration and thus team control, filed at $8 million, while the Orioles countered at $7.375 million, according to MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. Means, who is second-year eligible, filed at $3.1 million, while the O's countered at $2.7 million.

The Orioles have only gone to arbitration once since Elias was hired prior to the 2019 season -- when outfielder Anthony Santander lost his case before the ’21 campaign.