The Los Angeles Dodgers were expecting to welcome back Gavin Stone this year after he missed the entire 2025 season while recovering from a complex right shoulder surgery that repaired his labrum, rotator cuff and capsule.
Stone made his 2026 Cactus League debut on Feb. 24, tossing a scoreless inning against the Cleveland Guardians. It marked his first game action since Aug. 31, 2024.
Unfortunately for Stone, he experienced some discomfort after throwing a bullpen session that prompted an MRI on his right shoulder.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the team is feeling good after results showed only inflammation and no structural damage, via Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
According to Roberts, the exam showed inflammation in Stone’s shoulder but no structural damage.
“It’s going to be a shutdown for a couple weeks and we’ll kind of reevaluate then,” Roberts said. “I think we dodged a bullet. We feel good about it.”
While Stone appears to have avoided a serious injury, he will be shut down from throwing for the next couple of weeks. That all but rules out the 27-year-old potentially making the Dodgers’ Opening Day roster.
Stone was a candidate to be part of the team’s initial starting rotation coming out of Spring Training with Blake Snell also likely to miss the start of the 2026 season.
Stone last pitched 140.1 innings during the 2024 season before suffering his shoulder injury. He posted a 3.53 ERA in what became a breakout season as he made himself a viable rotation option for the club.
Dodgers rotation options without Gavin Stone
With Snell and Stone unavailable for Opening Day, the Dodgers will likely choose from a group of Roki Sasaki, Emmet Sheehan, River Ryan and Justin Wrobleski for the final two or three spots in their starting rotation.
That gives the Dodgers a rotation of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shohei Ohtani and Tyler Glasnow, along with some combination of Sasaki, Sheehan, Ryan and Wrobleski.
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