Chayce McDermott News: Activated and optioned

The Orioles reinstated McDermott (lat) from the 15-day injured list and optioned him to Triple-A Norfolk on Sunday, Jake Rill of MLB.com reports.

Baltimore has an opening in its rotation during the upcoming week after demoting Charlie Morton to the bullpen, but McDermott apparently isn't being viewed as a candidate to fill the void while he builds back up from the right lat strain that kept him out for all of spring training and the first month of the regular season. McDermott kicked off his rehab assignment with Double-A Chesapeake this past Sunday before moving up to Norfolk for his second start Saturday, when he struck out three over four scoreless innings. The 26-year-old righty tossed 57 pitches in that outing, but once he gets stretched out into the 75-to-90-pitch range at Triple-A, he could be a more realistic option for the big-league rotation.