The Los Angeles Dodgers have dealt with injury issues all season, and while their lineup is mostly back to full strength, their pitching staff remains a real work in progress.
The Dodgers avoided a serious injury to Teoscar Hernández, who is expected to get back in the lineup within the next few days after he was hit on his left foot by a pitch. The Dodgers again will be at full strength with their position players once Hernández returns.
As for their pitching staff, there’s been some encouraging updates for a group that currently has 13 arms on the injured list in Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Gavin Stone, Emmet Sheehan, River Ryan, Dustin May, Clayton Kershaw, Joe Kelly, Kyle Hurt, Brusdar Graterol, Tony Gonsolin, Tyler Glasnow, Nick Frasso and Connor Brogdon.
Of those pitchers, 10 are starters, which has placed strain on their rotation depth and forced the club to use options that should not be at the Major League level at the moment, including Justin Wrobleski and Bobby Miller.
Fortunately for the Dodgers, they are expecting to get a few pitchers back soon, and more are on the way.
Dodgers injury updates
Tyler Glasnow
Glasnow has been sidelined since Aug. 16 due to right elbow tendinitis and initially got off to a slow start in his recovery. The right-hander was scratched from playing catch last week but managed to throw off flat ground on back-to-back days at Chase Field.
Glasnow then progressed to throwing a bullpen session on Saturday at Dodger Stadium, and everything went according to plan, which should allow him to keep ramping up.
“So the bullpen went really well,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Fastball only, but it was 15 to 20 pitches, came out of it pretty excited.
“So my expectation is there’s going to be another aggressive ‘pen here, probably Tuesday makes sense, where he’s going to use his pitch mix. And then at that point in time, we could talk about a sim game or something like that.”
Yoshinobu Yamamoto
The Dodgers have been without Yamamoto since he went on 15-day IL June 16 due to an official designation of right triceps tightness that was more of a rotator cuff strain. Yamamoto has steadily worked his way through a rehab process and completed his second rehab start with Triple-A Oklahoma City recently.
Yamamoto followed Glasnow in the bullpen with a throwing session of his own, and he remains on track to re-join the Dodgers rotation on Tuesday.
“It was good,” Roberts said. “I didn’t hear specifics, so I think that’s a good thing. And you know, our expectation still he’s going to start on Tuesday.”
Brusdar Graterol
Graterol has only appeared in one game this season, throwing just eight pitches in early August before suffering a right hamstring strain. It was expected to end his season upon their first look, but changed their prognosis with more information.
Since the injury scare, the right-hander has been building back up and went out on a rehab assignment. It’s likely he joins the club prior to Monday’s game.
“Graterol is on his way,” Roberts said. “Threw the baseball well the other night, so on his way. We’ll see about activation tomorrow or potentially Monday, just kind of depending on where the ‘pen is at.”
Clayton Kershaw
Of all the injury updates, Kershaw’s is the least encouraging as Roberts said the southpaw is still in pain due to a bone spur in his left foot.
“It’s still bothering him, but it’s not as tender as it as it was in Arizona,” Roberts said. “But it’s still bothering him.”
Kershaw has been in a walking boot at times, and he’s doing what Roberts described as “pretty minimal” work. It remains to be seen if Kershaw will return this season.
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