Chris Davis undergoes season-ending hip surgery

Chris Davis underwent arthroscopic surgery to repair a left hip labrum in Dallas on Wednesday, Orioles executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias said.

Davis, who has been on the 60-day injured list because of a lower-back strain, will have a recovery of four-to-five months, Elias said.

“He projects to be out for the season,” Elias said in a video conference call. “It is a timeline that will allow him to return and participate in a full spring training next year ,and we anticipate that he’ll be fully recovered at that time. This is something that we have come to in conjunction with him and working through some of the discomfort and pain he was experiencing in spring training in his lower back and hip region.

“There will be a somewhat lengthy recovery there for Chris. Everything went well. He’s home. Everything went smoothly, and he’s on the road to recovery right now.”

In 2022, Davis, 35, will be entering the final year of a seven-year, $161 million contract. Since he signed the contract, Davis has hit .196 with 92 home runs and 231 RBIs.

He had two at-bats in the first Grapefruit League game on February 28th and did not play again.

“I think it’s safe to say that veteran baseball players or any baseball players, they deal with things, they play through things, through the course of seasons and years, and you come to the conclusion something needs to be done about it,” Elias said.”We weren’t able to see him in much spring training action. He’s been dealing with that since this, and it was the conclusion of the medical people involved, and Chris that he wanted to get this fixed once he had the proper diagnosis.”

Martin out: Richie Martin suffered a broken left wrist when he collided with the center-field wall at Triple-A Norfolk on Tuesday night. Martin, who missed the 2020 season because of a broken right wrist and had surgery to remove the left hamate bone before spring training this season, won’t require surgery.

“It will be a straightforward healing process,” Elias said. “It will be in a splint for about six weeks, and I think that we would hope to get him back on the baseball field in that eight-to-12-week range.

“Another tough turn of events for a guy we like a lot, who plays really hard. He’s just unfortunately had some injuries, unlucky injuries the last few years, but we’re going to do everything we can to get him back before the end of the season and get him back into baseball action if that’s at all possible.”

Infield juggling: In the last few days, the Orioles have made changes to their infield, designating Rio Ruiz for assignment, optioning Ramón Urías to Norfolk and promoting Stevie Wilkerson from Norfolk. Second baseman Jahmai Jones, who was playing second at Norfolk, is out because of an oblique injury.

Elias said that the Orioles don’t have imminent plans to acquire infielders from outside the organization. Martin’s injury complicates things.

“We’re always looking,” Elias said. “Players become available. They get [designated for assignment], they get released, they have [opt-out clauses], the trade market. We’ll listen to all of that. I do view Richie’s injury as a blow to our depth in the middle infield and in the utility category for this 2021 season. We were counting on him to provide that and possibly come up and do more for us. This really stinks, for us and for him. I really feel badly for him.

“He really hasn’t gotten an extensive chance to play since 2019. We do have a lot of interesting infielders that are starting to matriculate into the upper minors, and we’ll keep an eye on those guys. Others are a little banged up, too, so we’re going with the group that we have, but we’ll see how things evolve.”

Kjerstad update: Outfielder Heston Kjerstad, who was the overall No. 2 pick in last year’s draft, hasn’t played because of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart.

“There hasn’t been much to report,” Elias said. “This is a very tricky condition that he’s coming out of. It involves the heart muscle.

“It’s something we’re going to have to take very slowly and methodically and carefully. It’s probably going to take some time, but we’ve got all hands on deck to make sure this goes well. He’s got every medical resource available to him, world class, and he’s got a great head on his shoulders, and he’s a very determined, disciplined kid.

“It all projects well, but we’re not going to rush anything. This is certainly not something I have a lot of experience with, and it’s not something that happens a lot in baseball. There’s not a real precise timeline we can put on something like this.”

Hunter Harvey’s progress: Elias thinks Hunter Harvey’s oblique injury, which landed him on the 60-day injured list to begin the season, is getting better.

“He’s throwing. He’s throwing in simulated games,” Elias said. “His velocity is there. The innings that he’s thrown down there in Sarasota have gone well so far. He’s only thrown a couple so far. We’ve got to have several outings before he’s deemed fully ready and built up and all the boxes have been checked from a rehab status.

“At this point, we’re projecting him to be able to come of the 60-day [injured list] if not exactly 60 days after his placement, a few days thereafter, assuming things continue to go smoothly.”