Orioles pitching prospect Hunter Harvey is scheduled to see his first game action in nearly two months Saturday, when he's set to pitch two innings in a Gulf Coast League game in Florida.
Now in the final stages of recovering from sports hernia surgery on May 3, Harvey is scheduled to throw a live batting practice session at the Orioles spring training facility in Florida today, the final step in his rehabilitation before he can get back into games.
Harvey, who last pitched in a game on April 28 in extended spring training, is still likely two or three starts away from joining a higher minor league affiliate. He will first increase his innings -- working three innings in his next outing and four after that -- before the organization sends him to a higher affiliate.
The Orioles’ first-round draft pick in 2013, Harvey was scheduled to open the season at High-A Frederick before the latest in a series of injuries that has kept him from pitching in an affiliated minor league game since July 2014.
Harvey, whose past three seasons have been riddled by various injuries, first injured his groin during a minor league spring training start and the injury forced him to stay in Sarasota, Fla., for extended spring training. He suffered a second setback while he was pitching in extended spring training.
He was shut down one month early in 2014 because of elbow troubles. A combination of a fractured leg and more elbow soreness robbed him of all of 2015.
DALLAS — eencina@baltsun.com
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