Richard Bleier makes first appearance since lat injury
Prior to last night, it was 269 full calendar days since Baltimore Orioles reliever Richard Bleier stepped on the mound for live game action. As we’re all too familiar with by now, Bleier’s 2018 season – that saw him post a 1.93 ERA in 31 games – came to a screeching halt due to a lat injury that required surgery to repair.
Spending months rehabbing the injury, Bleier checked in with the media during the Orioles FanFest event held at the end of January. The burning question surrounding his session was if he’d be ready for Opening Day on March 28. His update was, “As far as the scheduling goes, the scheduling is for opening day, so unless there’s any setbacks or anything, which I hope there’s not, I think I should be ready.”
Bleier was one of the most dependable relievers, not only on the Orioles, but in the entire American League before his season-ending injury. As mentioned, he posted a 1.93 ERA in 32.2 innings and posted a 1.6 WAR, the highest of his career, in his 31 appearances.
Entering in the fifth inning of last nights, 6-1 loss in Sarasota to the New York Yankees, Bleier was on a strict pitch count of 20 pitches. Manager Brandon Hyde did not want to overuse Bleier in his first outing of the spring, as he prepares to be ready for Opening Day. Although 20 pitches was the limit regardless, Bleier would have liked to have a much better outing than what he actually turned in.
Throwing 19 pitches, he retied just two batters in the inning, while allowing three hits and three runs. Only one of the runs was earned though, as a throwing error from Renato Núñez allowed a runner to score, subsequently, setting another runner up in scoring position at second base. Eventually, that runner would come around to score himself, as the Yankees took a 4-0 lead at the time.
Bleier did manage to strikeout one batter, and after the outing, he spoke with MASN’s Gary Thorne and Brian Roberts, discussing how he felt. “I felt great,” Bleier said. “Obviously the results weren’t quite there in terms of runs given up, but in terms of executing pitches, I feel like I didn’t execute one pitch and that was the first double.” He continued on to say, “The ball felt like it was coming out of my hand really well and the action was there and I’m very happy with it.”
Talking about his rehab and the injury from last year, Bleier said, “Personally, my season was going OK and then I got hurt and it was obviously a huge setback for my career. The rehab process after that, it’s just not fun rehabbing a major injury. There’s definitely a lot of ups and downs [and] a lot of frustrations along the way, but it’s all worth it now. I got back in to a game and I feel healthy and I’m really excited about my next outing. Honestly, I feel like the injury is behind me.”
Arriving to camp weeks ahead of other pitchers and catchers, Bleier has been ready to get out on the mound in a real game setting and put the injury out of his mind. He told Orioles productions media before Grapefruit League games began, “I’m kind of a new pitcher just trying to prove myself to a new coaching staff and front office. That’s worked for me in the past and I’ll continue to do that.”
With competitions continuing as we get closer to Opening Day, Bleier still doesn’t have a sense of what his role will be as the team breaks camp and heads to New York. “I just know that when they tell me to go into the game, I’m going to try to get three outs before they score runs,” he told Thorne last evening.
He also touched on Orioles new pitching coach Doug Brocail and how he’s building a relationship with him in his first season with the team. “I really like him a lot,” Bleier told Roberts. “He’s just a very approachable, friendly guy from a personality stand point. Obviously, he’s got a huge resume for his pitching career and then as a coach as well and he’s really helped us out with utilizing our stuff as well as we can.”
“I think that’s really the main theme of the new direction that we’re kind of going in. Stick with what works and stay away from what’s not working. They kind of back it up with some facts and it’s really helping a lot of guys.”
