The Los Angeles Dodgers have needed to navigate most of the 2025 season thus far with a pitching staff that is operating well below full capacity, but Michael Kopech and Kirby Yates could be returning this week.
Mounting injuries have required the Dodgers to utilize just about every type of transaction in the book to merely get by on a game-by-game basis with enough available arms. In the bullpen specifically, there has been constant shuffling between the Dodgers’ roster and Triple-A Oklahoma City.
As the Dodgers wait for pitchers to return, they have acquired a potential impact reliever in Alexis Díaz, along with adding Will Klein and José Ureña in recent days.
Meanwhile, Roki Sasaki still has a ways to go on his rehab journey, but is making progress. Blake Snell is nearing a bullpen session but Tyler Glasnow’s recovery stalled a bit after he threw off a mound.
Dodgers updates
Michael Kopech
Kopech recently completed a scoreless appearance for the Comets, finishing with a strikeout and one walk. It was his ninth rehab game with Oklahoma City.
Roberts expects Kopech to return within the next few days, but the Dodgers are in no rush to activate him if he isn’t ready.
“He will be in town, still on his rehab, threw [Sunday], so I think the thought was to bring him here and kind of evaluate, see how he is and see when that day is to activate. There’s no hard date yet,” Roberts said.
Kopech’s scoreless outing on Sunday was not been the norm for him while on a rehab assignment. It has actually been quite the struggle for the right-hander, with 11 runs allowed in 6.1 innings of work.
While the Dodgers obviously prefer better results, they believe Kopech will be a positive contributor when he is called upon.
“They certainly weren’t great. I think we’ve got to appreciate this is a guy that’s logged a lot of service time,” Roberts said.
“I think the stuff is still good, and you’re betting on the fact that the focus will get a lot better once he gets here and the interest becomes more focused interest.”
There are various reasons why the Dodgers aren’t concerned with his subpar performance. For one, because his injury occurred early on in Spring Training, Kopech hasn’t pitched in any kind of Major League environment since last October. So in a way, the rehab assignment was his first major tune-up of the season.
Additionally, Kopech has always been a power pitcher as opposed to one focused on finesse or precision, so some inconsistencies after a long break are to be expected. For a pitcher like Kopech, the main priority while rehabbing in the Minors is building his stuff back up to Major League quality.
“It hasn’t been good, but I think he’s not really a command guy. He’s stuff over command, and there’s a sequencing component that they weren’t doing,” Roberts said. “Just kind of getting the fastball built up, the velocity. So there’s things that we feel we’re not too concerned if we choose to activate him.”
Kirby Yates
The situation with Yates is much more straightforward. If everything checks out after facing hitters on Wednesday, he is expected to be activated by the weekend.
“Kirby had a good ‘pen [Monday]. I think we’ve got a live session scheduled for Wednesday, and if that goes well, there’s a potential for activation this weekend,” Roberts said.
Yates has been out since May 18 as the result of a right hamstring strain.
Roki Sasaki
Sasaki was placed on the IL in mid-April due to a right shoulder impingement, but his transition to MLB had not been smooth sailing prior to that. He was 1-1 with a 4.72 ERA and 1.49 WHIP in eight starts.
Sasaki revealed after the fact he had been pitching through discomfort for multiple starts, which the Dodgers believe impacted his performance.
The Dodgers have a better understanding of Sasaki’s injury now that some time has passed, and are confident in the recovery plan they’ve designed to get him back on the mound. Sasaki hasn’t progressed beyond low-intensity catch at an estimated 120 feet. But he is able to do so without pain, which the Dodgers are encouraged by.
“I think the impingement was more inflammation, so getting that to kind of calm down. From what I hear, playing catch, albeit at a low intensity, he’s not feeling any pain,” Roberts said. “So I think we’ve kind of knocked that out. Seeing him run around, each day he looks a lot more physical, which is great.
“I like our plan.”
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