Will Smith was originally scheduled to start behind the plate and bat third for the Los Angeles Dodgers in their series finale against the Colorado Rockies.
Instead, he was a late scratch with Ben Rortvedt inserted into the lineup. The Dodgers then announced Smith was scratched due to right hand soreness.
Smith was previously hit on his hand by a foul ball on Sept. 3 and wound up being removed from the game one inning later. He ended up missing four games before returning to the lineup on Tuesday.
Although Smith missed another game on Wednesday, there isn’t much concern moving forward, especially with the off day on Thursday.
“This is literally 15 minutes before the game as he’s getting ready, his hand started to swell up and compromise a little bit as he was getting loose,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “So we decided to have him down today, potentially available to hit if we needed to.
“Gave Ben the call late, and he really stepped up. Ben did a fantastic job, as he has every opportunity that he’s had. Came up huge for us with the pitching staff.
“As far as Will, obviously we’re off [Thursday] so we’ll kind of manage him, see how he is, the off day with treatment. And then Friday we’ll make a decision if he plays. Not overly concerned, but we’ve got to get that swelling under wraps.”
The main issue affecting Smith was hitting, which should make the Dodgers more cautious moving forward. After he took his warmup at-bats, that’s when the issue came back up, and not when he arrived at the ballpark.
“And after the hitting, getting dressed and ready for the game, that’s when it started to kind of show itself,” Roberts said. “So he tried to get out there and throw, and it just didn’t respond well.”
The Dodgers could opt to give Smith another day off coming out of the break, which would amount to three straight days of not playing. That could be beneficial, but the Dodgers haven’t made that decision yet.
“We thought that he was going to be able to play tonight, but with the setback, we’ve got to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Roberts said. “I’m not sure. I don’t want to say he’s not going to play Friday, but we’ve got to be pretty confident he can catch two out of three if he’s going to play Friday.”
Even though Smith will be limited, the Dodgers still don’t plan on bringing up another catcher.
“Even where he’s at, he still could catch in emergency,” Roberts said. “So at this point in time, no.”
Will Smith possibly getting more testing
Although Smith already underwent testing, he could go in for an MRI on Thursday, Roberts said.
An x-ray and CT scan previously cleared Smith from a more significant injury.
Have you subscribed to the Dodger Blue YouTube channel? Be sure to ring the notification bell to watch player interviews, participate in shows and giveaways, and stay up to date on all Dodgers news and rumors!
