Reimold’s season likely over

McClatchy Newspapers

ARLINGTON, Texas

Baltimore Orioles left fielder Nolan Reimold’s season appears over as he awaits corrective surgery this week to fix a spinal fusion procedure performed last June.

Reimold, a Kennedy Christian graduate who was placed on the 15-day disabled list Friday, is scheduled to have the operation Tuesday at the Florida Spine Institute in Clearwater, Fla. During the All-Star break, he was evaluated by neurosurgeon Robert J. Kowalski, who recommended the procedure after a series of tests.

“I don’t think you will see him again this year,” Orioles manager Buck Showalter said of Reimold.

Last June, Reimold had procedure that removed a herniated disk in his neck and fused the vertebrae together, but the nerve inflammation Reimold dealt with in his spine last season has re-emerged.

“The fusion isn’t what they hoped it would be and they want to go correct something that’s not quite right,” Showalter said. “I could tell the last couple games that something wasn’t quite firing. It’s kind of sad in a way, but you want to get it right. ”

Reimold, who was limited to 16 games last season because of the injury, was also on the disabled list for more than seven weeks this season with a right hamstring injury that had lingered since spring training.