BALTIMORE (AP) — Baltimore Orioles pitcher Chris Bassitt underwent facet bone spur removal on his back and could rejoin the team later in the year.
Mike Elias, the team’s president of baseball operations and general manager, said Saturday the 37-year-old right-hander opted for surgery after injections to reduce inflammation in his back about a week ago did not work.
“It’s a pretty minor procedure and we’ll see where he’s at in a couple weeks and see if and when he can start throwing,” Elias said. “We’re feeling pretty good about things right there. We feel there’s a very strong possibility we get him back in better condition before the end of the season.”
Bassitt is 4-4 with a 5.27 ERA in his first year in Baltimore. He has not pitched since June 3.
Elias said catcher Adley Rutschman could return to the active roster soon. Rutschman was hit in the head with a throw while running the bases June 18 and was placed on the concussion injured list two days later.
“Adley’s doing well,” Elias said. “It’s improved the last couple of days. I think we’re getting close there.”
Elias said both outfielder Dylan Beavers (right oblique strain) and pitcher Dean Kremer (right quad strain) are also nearing returns after rehabbing at Triple-A Norfolk this week.
Right-hander Yaramil Hiraldo (shoulder inflammation) is expected to begin a rehabilitation assignment Sunday, while first baseman Ryan Mountcastle (fractured left foot) has just started running.
Reliever Félix Bautista, an All-Star in 2023 who missed all of 2024 and pitched in only 35 games last season, has made progress in his recovery from right shoulder surgery.
The 31-year-old had a torn labrum and torn rotator cuff repaired in August, and Elias did not specify a time frame for his return.
“I have to keep my fingers really crossed with Félix because of the nature of the surgery he had and how difficult it is,” Elias said. “But he’s throwing really, really well and we’re pretty excited about where he’s at.”
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Baltimore Orioles' Adley Rutschman is checked by manager Craig Albernaz and a trainer after being hit in the head by a throw to first base on his single during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners, Thursday, June 18, 2026, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
NEW YORK (AP) — President Donald Trump on Saturday said he is nominating Lance Schroyer, a former Oklahoma state trooper, as the next director of Immigration and Customs and Enforcement.
Trump said on his Truth Social platform that his new pick for the immigration enforcement agency is a former U.S. Marine and a “PATRIOT with real operational experience." He called Schroyer a "proven leader with DECADES of experience locking up the worst of the worst.”
Schroyer hails from the same home state as the new Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, a former congressman. Earlier this month, Mullin brought Schroyer onstage at a National Sheriffs' Association event, calling him a “good friend of mine" and noting DHS had recently hired him.
On Saturday, Mullin quickly praised Schroyer in a statement highlighting the former trooper's 29-year career and his work with federal and state partners on a U.S. immigration enforcement program.
“President Trump made a great pick, and I’m confident Lance’s strong leadership and firsthand experience will empower the men and women of ICE to deport criminal illegal aliens, secure the homeland, and protect the American people,” Mullin said.
If confirmed, Schroyer will lead ICE at a time when the public mood has soured on Trump’s immigration crackdown, which sent surges of federal immigration officers into American cities to round up immigrants. Those raids sent tensions soaring and prompted clashes between protesters and law enforcement, leading to the fatal shootings of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis earlier this year.
Trump returned to the White House on a promise of mass deportations, and ICE has been a central executor of that vision. The agency is undergoing massive growth from a one-time injection of $75 billion last year, which has allowed for the hiring of 12,000 officers and increased detention capacity.
Mullin, who started in his role in March, has promised to keep his department out of the headlines and has indicated a softer tone on immigration, although he is expected to align with the president’s priorities on mass deportations.
Claire Trickler-McNulty, a former senior ICE official, said prior confirmed ICE directors have often been attorneys, though some state and local law enforcement officials have also been nominated. She said his background in Oklahoma suggests Mullin likely had influence over the pick.
“I think probably given the attention on ICE, he wants to feel like he has somebody he can trust in there,” she said in an interview.
John Torres, another senior ICE official, said Schroyer faces an uphill climb toward Senate confirmation but his experience being at the state and local level instead of the federal level might help.
“He won't have any of that baggage, where they're going to turn around and say, oh, well, he worked for this administration or that,” Torres said.
Schroyer's nomination comes after former ICE director Todd Lyons resigned at the end of May. David Venturella, a former executive at a private prison operator, has been serving as the acting head of the agency. Venturella is expected to stay on as the acting director until Schroyer is Senate confirmed, according to a DHS official speaking on condition of anonymity.
ICE has not had a Senate-confirmed director since the Obama administration, a result of polarizing politics around the agency and immigration policy.
Associated Press writers Elliot Spagat and Rebecca Santana contributed to this report.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin testifies before the House Committee on Appropriations subcommittee on Homeland Security on Capitol Hill, Thursday, June 25, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
