Branden Kline Nears End Of Recovery

BALTIMORE—The most anticipated bullpen session at minicamp in January belonged to righthander Branden Kline, the 2012 second-round pick who is recovering from Tommy John surgery on his elbow.

Kline has not pitched in a game since May 20, 2015, at Double-A Bowie. He had the procedure five months later after being shut down again in instructional league.

Kline remains on a throwing program, which carried him to the Ed Smith Stadium complex in Sarasota, Fla., and set him under the watchful eyes of Orioles manager Buck Showalter, new pitching coach Roger McDowell and new bullpen coach Alan Mills, among others.

“It’s been interesting,” said Kline, 25. “I’m definitely learning how to be extremely patient and listen to my body. That’s probably been the biggest thing. There are certain days I feel like I could do more than I should and there’s certain days where I might feel a little bit under the weather.

“I was able to talk to some other guys who went through the process, guys like (Dylan) Bundy and others, so I’d know what to expect. So it’s been a really good learning curve, but at the same time, I’m just ready to get back out there on the field.”

Kline went 3-3, 3.66 in eight starts at Bowie before being shut down. He struck out 6.2 and walked 4.3 per nine innings. He has made 45 starts over parts of four seasons since the Orioles selected him from Virginia.

“You can tell from the look on his face that he’s pretty excited, just getting to that point,” Showalter said. “Dylan talked about it a lot, when you get to the point where you’re throwing and not thinking about it, whether it’s going to hurt. And then you come in the next day and it feels good.

“Dylan got to the point last year where he really wasn’t thinking about it at all. It was just, ‘OK, I’ve got to get this guy out.’ That’s what Branden is getting closer to. He was a really good prospect before he got hurt.”

BIRD SEED

• The Orioles hired former major league lefthander Mark Henderickson as their pitching coach at short-season Aberdeen.

• Baltimore hired Carlos Tosca as manager for the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League club. He is the former Blue Jays manager who most recently served as the Braves’ bench coach.

— Roch Kubatko covers the Orioles for MASNSports.com