Coming off a season that was cut short due to an ACL injury and subsequent surgery, Andrew Toles went into Spring Training hopeful he’d factor into the picture in left field be with the Los Angeles Dodgers come Opening Day.
Toles was initially slowed into Cactus League play, then began to receive more opportunities. However, as camp was winding to a close, Toles’ number of starts began to become more sparse. As such, he was optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City to start the season.
Toles entered play Friday batting .391/.440/.565 with four doubles and six RBI. He went 3-for-3 against Triple-A New Orleans before being removed in the fifth inning because of a hamstring pull.
According to Jacob Unruh of NewsOK.com, Toles considers the injury minor and one that may only keep him out for several days:
“It’s going to be a couple days, four or five days or something,” Toles said. “It’s a long season. It’s part of it. I’ve got to hydrate.”
While Toles may be optimistic, it remains plausible the Dodgers will err on the side of caution. The injury comes at a bit of an unfortunate time, as the case could be made Toles was hitting his way to a call up.
Joc Pederson, who for all intents and purposes is the fourth outfielder on the active roster, has struggled out of the gate. In eight games, he’s 3-for-21 with two doubles, two RBI, two strikeouts and two walks.
Moreover, Matt Kemp suffered a knee contusion after crashing into the fence on a leaping attempt at a catch in the Dodgers’ loss on Friday.
Before suffering his knee injury last season, Toles was batting .271/.314/.458 with three doubles, five home runs and 15 RBI. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts on multiple occasions has voiced confidence Toles will make an impact for the club at some point in 2018.
