Orioles prospect Dylan Bundy: "Mild" elbow tightness

Baltimore Orioles pitching prospect Dylan Bundy is sidelined, at least for a few days, with "mild" elbow tightness, according to Steve Melewski of MASN. Melewski tweeted last night that Orioles general manager Dan Duquette says a couple of days of rest is expected to clear up the tightness.

Bundy is considered the top pitching prospect in baseball by most sources. He threw eight innings in spring training camp for Baltimore, allowing six hits and one earned run for a 1.13 ERA, although his K/BB ratio was unattractive at 5/6. He last pitched in a major league spring game on March 14th, when he walked two men in three innings against the Tampa Bay Rays. He was optioned to Double-A on March 15th.

A healthy Bundy shows sharp command of a mid-90s fastball, a curveball, and a changeup, looking like a future number one starter. The Orioles discouraged him last year from using the excellent cutter he showed in high school, hoping to reduce his injury risk and wanting him to concentrate on his other secondary pitchers.

The general consensus was that Bundy would be promoted to the major leagues before the second half of the season and possibly as soon as mid-May, but at this point we need to see how the elbow issue resolves. It doesn't sound serious, but you know how that goes. There was also some chatter about Bundy's velocity being a little down this spring.

Dylan's older brother Bobby Bundy, also a pitching prospect, albeit not of Dylan's caliber, hurt his elbow last summer. Genetics are not destiny, however, and we will monitor the situation.

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