Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Andrew Toles suffered a season-ending knee injury early in the 2017 season, so coming into 2018 he hadn’t seen any game action in almost a full year.
Because of that, the Dodgers elected to start him with Triple-A Oklahoma City to begin the season. Rather than carry Toles on their active roster as a fourth outfielder, time with OKC would allow for him to get consistent at-bats.
Toles got off to a hot start to the season, but unfortunately, he suffered a hamstring injury in Friday night’s game that required him to be removed in the fifth inning.
Toles said that the injury was not a serious one and that he would not miss more than a few days, but it appears the Dodgers are being more cautious. According to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com, Toles was placed on the Minor League disabled list:
Toles on Minor League DL, at least 10 days out.
— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) April 14, 2018
Toles was 3-for-3 with a home run in the game before having to leave with the injury. Overall in six games with OKC, Toles is batting .462/.500/.731 with four doubles and seven RBI.
Many thought that Toles was close to being called up if he continued to swing the bat at that high of a level, but that timeline will obviously be delayed not due to the injury. In the meantime, Joc Pederson’s time with the Dodgers appears safe for now.
There is no doubt that Toles will make an impact at the big league level at some point this season.
