Orioles Place Blaze Alexander On Injured List

The Orioles announced today that infielder/outfielder Blaze Alexander has been placed on the 10-day injured list with low back discomfort. Fellow infielder/outfielder Jeremiah Jackson has been recalled to take his place on the roster. Alexander’s first season in Baltimore has been a fairly successful one. He has appeared in 93 games and stepped to the plate 289 times. He has a .303/.358/.414 batting line. That translates to a 121 wRC+, indicating he has been 21% better than league average at the plate. He has been helped by an unsustainable .385 batting average on balls in play but he has also been putting the ball in play more. His 21.8% strikeout rate this year is a massive improvement over last year’s 32.3% rate. On top of that offense, he has also stolen ten bases and bounced around the field. He has lined up at all three outfield positions and the three infield spots to the left of first base. FanGraphs has credited him with 1.5 wins above replacement on the year. At this point, there’s nothing to indicate the back injury is really serious but the calendar makes it notable. The regular season has just over two weeks remaining and the O’s are hanging by a thread, currently four games back of a playoff spot. The margin for error is really narrow, so even losing a role player like Alexander is noteworthy. It doesn’t help that Gunnar Henderson is banged up as well. He was removed from yesterday’s game due to left knee discomfort and is not in tonight’s lineup. Baltimore has Jackson Holliday at short tonight, with Jeremiah Jackson covering Holliday’s usual second base position. Henderson isn’t having an amazing season. His .219/.303/.395 batting line translates to a subpar 97 wRC+. However, he does have 22 home runs and a 9.4% walk rate. The relatively low batting average and on-base percentage are mostly due to a .251 batting average on balls in play, which is well below his .303 career rate and the league average, which is .289 this year. Even with that diminished offense, he has been worth 3.0 fWAR thanks to his speed and defense. Holliday isn’t likely to provide an upgrade. He is hitting .235/.310/.354 for an 88 wRC+ this year. Jeremiah Jackson is hitting .226/.255/.359 for a 69 wRC+. The O’s will nonetheless do their best to try to scrape out some wins and perhaps Henderson and Alexander can get back in the mix before it’s too late. Photo courtesy of Jamie Sabau, Imagn Images View Comments (2)