NEW YORK – John Means underwent ligament-reconstructive surgery this morning on his left elbow, a procedure that executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias described as “successful” in an update shared on a video call with the media.

Dr. Keith Meister performed the surgery in Dallas.

Means already has been discharged from the hospital and will begin his rehab immediately. He’ll return to Baltimore and meet with the Orioles’ medical and athletic training staffs.

Elias is hopeful that Means can return to the Orioles in the first half of the 2023 season, though the surgery obviously doesn’t bring any guarantees.

Elias didn’t dismiss Triple-A Norfolk’s Kyle Bradish as a possibility for the rotation this weekend. Saturday’s spot remains TBA.

NEW YORK – The lineup was loaded with prospects, the future put on display for fans to admire as if shuffling through a baseball museum, pausing to stare at the most attractive pieces. Except the most valuable also were the newest.

This is what happened in Aberdeen, where the Orioles’ high Single-A affiliate stole the major league team’s thunder on a rainy night with catcher Adley Rutschman’s first injury rehab game.

The Orioles stepped into the third series of their road trip and were flattened early by Luis Severino, who retired the first 14 batters and didn’t allow a hit until Jorge Mateo singled in the sixth inning in the Yankees’ wild 12-8 win in the Bronx.

A different vibe entirely, though entertaining in their own way.

A familiar comeback attempt, with the Orioles again falling behind by six runs before fighting back. Twice. But unlike Sunday’s game in Anaheim, they couldn’t get even.

NEW YORK – An Orioles rotation missing its No. 1 starter is forced to fill another opening with the season less than a month old.

Chris Ellis was placed on the 10-day injured list this afternoon with right shoulder inflammation, the same condition that shut him down last September.

Alexander Wells was recalled from Triple-A Norfolk, a simply and logical transaction with the left-hander on the taxi squad. He already had a locker inside the visiting clubhouse at Yankee Stadium.

Ellis faced only five batters Sunday in Anaheim and didn’t retire anyone. He walked three, hit one and surrendered a two-run single.

Mound visits from pitching coach Chris Holt and later head athletic trainer Brian Ebel preceded his removal from the game.

NEW YORK – Austin Hays is in left field tonight and Anthony Santander is in right, as the Orioles open a three-game series against the Yankees.

Jorge Mateo is the shortstop and Ramón Urías is playing third base.

Jordan Lyles is making his fourth start. He’s allowed six runs and 18 hits with six walks in 15 1/3 innings, but only one run in his last two starts over 10 1/3 innings.

Lyles held the Yankees to one run in 5 1/3 innings at Camden Yards.

Right-hander Luis Severino has made three starts for the Yankees this season and allowed only three runs in 13 innings. He’s surrendered 14 hits, walked four batters and struck out 14.

The Orioles are in New York for a three-game series that wraps up a long road trip. Three cities, one terrible piece of news regarding ace John Means and one significant update on catcher Adley Rutschman.

Rutschman is in Aberdeen tonight, where the high Single-A IronBirds open a six-game series against the Jersey Shore BlueClaws. The usual Monday off-day is followed by six more home games against the Brooklyn Cyclones.

It’s highly unlikely that Rutschman sticks around for a dozen games, but the Orioles aren’t laying out an exact plan. He’s going to dictate how quickly he moves through his injury rehab assignment.

DL Hall also is reporting to Aberdeen this afternoon, but he isn’t returning from a recent injury. The Orioles have him on a progression after he made only seven starts last summer with Double-A Bowie due to a stress reaction his left elbow.

Hall already proved that he made a full recovery by firing fastballs at 98-100 mph in Clearwater while retiring the Phillies in order with two strikeouts. He’ll get back to Double-A Bowie, eventually pitch at Triple-A Norfolk and, assuming he stays healthy, debut with the Orioles this summer.

Given the stretch of injuries that are hitting the Orioles at practically every turn, on their own roster and especially in the minors, they must have braced for the worst when a pitch ran in on Hudson Haskin’s hands during his first at-bat of an April 13 game in Binghamton.

Haskin was hit and headed to the clubhouse. Lineups posted for Double-A Bowie excluded him until six days later, with one exception – when a separate health issue caused him to be scratched.

In what’s started out as a special 2022 season for the Baysox outfielder, Haskin singled twice before the errant pitch and went 3-for-5 with a home run and six RBIs immediately upon his return.

Haskin, 23, collected two more hits the following night and his average dropped. That’s a hot start.

The ball that sidelined Haskin struck him on the bottom of the left hand, “that little fragile area,” said Baysox manager Kyle Moore. No broken bones, but some anxiety that ran through the organization.

Nothing that’s happened since John Means experienced tightness in his left forearm should be categorized as totally unexpected beyond perhaps the staff ace breaking his own news on social media.

The injury being to his elbow. The multiple MRIs and opinions. Confirmation that the ligament must be reconstructed and the 2022 season ends for him after two starts.

Additional tests aren’t usually run if the initial diagnosis is positive.

Means wanted to reach 200 innings this year. Of course he did. What starter aims low? It’s what 300 innings used to be back in the day.

Reaching that total seemed overly ambitious with the shorter leash in April, but stalling at eight is an unforeseen circumstance. And the surgery is expected to deny him a chance to be anointed the opening day starter for a fourth consecutive season – though he couldn’t fulfill it in 2020 due to shoulder fatigue.

The Orioles selected the contract of right-hander Chris Ellis from Triple-A Norfolk, and he’s starting tonight against the Athletics in Oakland.

Ellis was on the taxi squad and the logical choice. Alexander Wells also is on the taxi squad but can’t pitch in the series unless he’s replacing an injured player. The Orioles optioned him Sunday morning.

That was the expected. What also happened today comes as more of a surprise.

A full 40-man roster required a corresponding move for Ellis, and the Orioles have designated former first-round draft pick DJ Stewart for assignment.

Stewart, the 25^th-overall selection in 2015 out of Florida State University, was optioned to Norfolk after making three pinch-hitting appearances in the opening series at Tropicana Field and going 0-for-3 with two strikeouts. In two games with the Tides, he was 1-for-5 with a strikeout and stolen base.

Dillon Tate isn’t a pitcher who steals peeks at the stadium’s radar gun readings before returning his attention to the catcher delivering the signs. He isn’t grading his performances based on the miles-per-hour on his sinking fastball.

The fuss over his drop in velocity during the Orioles’ home opener against the Brewers brings no emotion. Not anger or amusement.

Tate recites the number of runs he surrendered that night: zero. He’d kick the ball to home plate with his left foot if it produced outs.

An inherited runner and one of his own were stranded. Two batters were retired and the bullpen delivered five scoreless innings behind starter Bruce Zimmermann.

The sinker was 90-91 mph rather than 95 or more. Asked about it the following day, manager Brandon Hyde said a mechanical glitch was noticed and discussed, and easily could be fixed.

There isn’t much advance notice for Spenser Watkins before he’s named a starter in a series. The conversation can happen a day before the game.

He’d be ready if told an hour prior.

Watkins didn’t know after going on the taxi squad for opening day whether he’d be their No. 5 starter. He didn’t know yesterday morning whether he definitely was the choice for tonight’s assignment in Oakland.

The right-hander had an inkling. But that doesn’t count as confirmation.

The game notes yesterday listed the four spots as TBA, but the Orioles’ public relations staff alerted the media around 12:30 p.m. that Watkins would start tonight, with Jordan Lyles going Wednesday and Tyler Wells Thursday.

The Orioles close out their series against the Yankees and the homestand with Ryan McKenna starting in center field and Cedric Mullins getting a rest day.

Mullins became the first Oriole last night to homer on a 3-0 count since Manny Machado on April 20, 2018 versus Cleveland.

Austin Hays is leading off and playing left field. Trey Mancini is in right.

Anthony Santander, today’s designated hitter, extended his on-base streak to eight games last night, two short of his career high to start the 2019 season.

Chris Owings is the second baseman and Kelvin Gutiérrez is at third. Ramón Urías goes to the bench.

A hitting philosophy can be created and shared at every level of the organization, from the lowest rungs of the system to the major league team. Coaches and instructors trained in it arriving in waves. Out with the old, in with the new breed that’s lauded as progressive and innovative.

Swing decisions are the foundation. The plan crumbles if players don’t adapt, if they don’t buy into it. Or if they don’t start seeing results.

The Orioles began last night ranked last in the majors with 14 runs scored in seven games and were slashing .196/.309/.283. But their 34 walks were second-most in the American League and fourth in the majors.

Those walks were the fourth-most in team history through seven games – the 1970 world champions hold the record with 41 - and they combined with four hit-by-pitches to give the Orioles an on-base percentage that ranked sixth in the league.

If free passes seem like an odd flex, consider that the Orioles accumulated 451 last season for the fourth-lowest total in the majors. They had 164 in 60 games in 2020 to rank 27^th in the majors, and 462 in 2019 to rank 24th.

Orioles left-hander John Means retired the Brewers in order tonight on 12 pitches in the first inning, nine in the third and 12 in the fourth. They scored twice in the second on 18 pitches, but he wasn’t laboring. The total body of work was solid.

Why it lasted only through the fourth was a curiosity, to say the least.

Joey Krehbiel began to warm in the bullpen and entered the game in the top of the fifth. Dillon Tate worked the sixth. Other relievers would be following him, as manager Brandon Hyde needed to cover for Means’ unexpected departure.

The club announced that Means had left forearm tightness, with more details to come, including whether this is an injured list situation. Meanwhile, the Orioles rallied to tie the game in the eighth, but a run-scoring triple by Kolton Wong and RBI double by Rowdy Tellez in the ninth off Jorge López gave Milwaukee a 4-2 win and the series.

Means is expected to undergo an MRI, and the club hopes to have more information Friday.

Allowed to throw 84 pitches over four innings on opening day, Orioles left-hander John Means can be pushed a bit more tonight in his start against the Brewers.

Wade into the medium level of the pool before submerging in the deep end.

“It depends on how efficient he is, traffic, stressful innings,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “I’m hoping to get him up to five or six innings and in the 85-pitch range or maybe a little higher. Kind of see how the game goes.”

The Dodgers pulled Clayton Kershaw today after seven perfect innings, another product of a short spring training. Hyde was asked what he’d do tonight if Means was perfect through the seventh at 80 pitches.

No mention of Kershaw. Just a “what if.”

Anthony Bemboom is catching tonight as the Orioles close out their series against the Brewers.

Ramón Urías is at third base and Jorge Mateo is the shortstop.

Rougned Odor is starting at second base.

Trey Mancini, the designated hitter and batting fourth, has a hit in four of the first five games.

John Means makes his second start after allowing one run and six hits in four innings against the Rays.