The Baltimore Orioles are keeping their fingers crossed on the potential of All-Star closer Felix Bautista to return to action before the end of the 2023 MLB season. It's been over two weeks since the last time Bautista toed the rubber, as he is dealing with a partial UCL tear. At the moment, Bautista is still on the 15-day injured list but appears as though the door is still open for him to play again this year.

“I think the fact that we’re keeping him throwing right now speaks to the fact that this is not over for 2023,” Orioles general manager Mike Elias said (via Jake RillLB. com). “It’s just going to depend on how he feels as we keep this going. But right now, this is our approach.

The optimistic projection for Bautista is that he will indeed pitch again this year, which would also mean that he will be able to avoid going under the knife to repair his elbow injury. Elias noted that Bautista's injury was only a partial tear of the UCL. Had it been a full tear, Bautista would have likely been scheduled for operation immediately upon diagnosis.

The 26-year-old Felix Bautista was among the most feared pitchers in the big leagues prior to his injury. Thus far in the 2023 campaign, Bautista has an 8-2 record to go with 33 saves and a 1.48 ERA across 56 appearances on the mound.

Even without Bautista, the Orioles have been winning a bunch of games, going 8-2 over their first 10 games this September.