ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.– Orioles manager Buck Showalter said Sunday he hadn't heard all the details about pitching prospect Hunter Harvey's abrupt departure from his start at short-season Aberdeen on Saturday night, but hoped the move was merely precautionary.
Harvey, who was pitching in Aberdeen as he built up innings following sports hernia surgery in May, left Saturday's game with right forearm soreness after 1 1/3 innings and throwing just 23 pitches against Batavia.
He was in the process of working his inning count up, first pitching in the Gulf Coast League before making his third start with the IronBirds on Saturday. In his previous start with Aberdeen, Harvey threw a season-high 69 pitches and allowed nine baserunners and three runs – two earned – over a season-high 3 1/3 innings
It's the latest setback in Harvey's injury-plagued career. He was shut down one month early in 2014, his first full minor league season, with forearm soreness and missed the entire 2015 season with a hairline fracture in his shin after taking a come-backer in a minor league spring training game and then with more arm soreness. He received a platelet rich plasma injection to help his recovery, but didn't pitch for the rest of the season.
Showalter said the report he received on Harvey's outing showed that he was carrying exemplary stuff before leaving the game.
"I was just looking at [the report]," Showalter said. "He had good stuff, good velocity. I'm just hoping it was a precautionary thing. I'm not sure. … [Player development director] Brian [Graham] just said he had some soreness there that they didn't like his description of it, but he was [throwing] 96. He was good."
Kim sticking with team
Orioles outfielder Hyun Soo Kim tested his right hamstring before Sunday's game and the team determined he had improved enough to accompany the team on their next road-trip stop to New York City.
There's still no guarantee that Kim – who strained his hamstring last Sunday while running to first base in his first at bat – will play in the Orioles' upcoming four-game series against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium, but he's close enough that the team rather keep him on the travel squad than leave him in Florida to rehab at the Orioles' spring training facility in Sarasota.
"We're going to take him to New York," Showalter said. "He's closer. He could do a lot of things today he couldn't do, wasn't as good at on Thursday, so that was encouraging. There's one small thing that's there, we want to make sure [he's OK]. … We'll continue with him to New York and see if he's a player on Monday. We think he's close."
Kim, who was listed among the team's available reserves for Sunday's series finale in Tampa Bay, performed a variety of running drills before Sunday's game and Showalter said he did well, only feeling any tinge of discomfort during the final set of drills.
"It was good until right at the end," Showalter said. "[He] felt it just a bit when they were doing some short bursts like simulating breaks at first base. That was the only thing he felt. He went through a lot today."
If Kim, who said Saturday he believed he felt good enough to play, doesn't play by Wednesday – which is the last of 10 days a team can backdate a DL stint -- he would likely be placed on the disabled list. In that case, Kim would be eligible to return on July 26.
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