ANAHEIM, Calif. — Jordan Westburg has spent the past four months working behind the scenes with the mentally grueling task of rehabilitating an injury.

First it was an oblique strain. Then it was a partially torn elbow ligament. And now he’s in the early stages of recovering from Tommy John surgery.

Westburg, who is out for the 2026 season, has spent almost all of his time during these four months at the team’s training facility in Sarasota, Florida. But the team and Westburg wanted him to be around the club even though he won’t be able to play this season.

“It’s a really, really nice breath of fresh air to be able to catch up with these guys,” Westburg told reporters Tuesday at Angel Stadium. “I can only [stay] so much in the loop being in Florida. I watch all the games, and I do my best to keep up with a lot of them, but being here face to face with everyone and getting to feel the energy in the dugout, it’s pretty cool.”

Westburg hopes he’s able to experience that for real at the beginning of next season. The third baseman said he is aiming to be ready for the start of spring training — and definitely for opening day 2027.

“If there were to be a normal spring training, I don’t see a reason why I would be able to be full go,” he said. “Ultimately, that decision … that’s all going to be decided later. In my mind, I’m going to prepare and do everything I can do in this rehab to be in that first spring training game.”

Westburg opted to receive a platelet-rich plasma injection in his elbow — a common recovery tool aimed at healing a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament. But after more than two months of the PRP injection working, it didn’t end up holding up, and Westburg opted to get surgery.

“[Surgery] was always on the table,” Westburg said. “I knew that when I decided to get the PRP injection. The whole reason behind the PRP injection was there was a shot that it worked, and if it didn’t, there was no penalty into 2027 if I had to flip the script and pivot and get the surgery. For a while there, I thought it was going to work, and I thought I was inching closer to get back into games, and then ultimately, it didn’t. So we pivoted and got the surgery, and the good news is it got done in time to where 2027 is not any question for me.”

Westburg is briefly joining a clubhouse that has several injured players for whom manager Craig Albernaz provided updates.

Adley Rutschman, who suffered a concussion Thursday after getting hit by a thrown ball versus the Mariners, is feeling better the past two days, the skipper said. Rutschman rode the bike Tuesday for the first step of his progression back to physical activity.

“That’s a good step in the right direction,” Albernaz said. “With a concussion, you always want to make sure you’re doing everything right, taking it slow.”

Jackson Holliday could be on track to avoid the injured list after the Orioles didn’t place him on it before Tuesday’s game. Holliday went through pregame drills for the second straight day Tuesday. He hasn’t played since suffering a groin injury Saturday. Albernaz said it’s critical that the Orioles don’t rush the 22-year-old back.

Blaze Alexander also shouldn’t be going on the IL, as the infielder said his bruised quad/knee is much better Tuesday than it was Monday when he had to exit the game — resulting in outfielder Leody Taveras playing third base for the first time in his career.

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