With Major League Baseball rosters expanding from 25 to 40 players on Saturday, the Los Angeles Dodgers are expected to get some reinforcements both off the disabled list and from Triple-A Oklahoma City.
One of those reinforcements was expected to be right-handed pitcher Ross Stripling, who has been out the last couple weeks with a back injury.
Stripling was originally supposed to return this past week during the Dodgers’ series against the Texas Rangers, but his back was still not 100 percent healthy. A decision was made not to rush to activate him, especially with the roster expansion just a few days away.
It now appears that Stripling may not even be ready to be activated on Saturday, as he threw a bullpen on Friday and the plan for him moving forward still remains unclear, via Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
Right-hander Ross Stripling threw approximately 25 pitches in a bullpen session Friday afternoon but Roberts said it hasn’t been decided yet when Stripling will be activated or what role awaits him.
“Right now, he had a ’pen today, felt good and now a conversation has to happen about what we want to do next,” Roberts said.
With the Dodgers starting rotation performing as well as it has in recent weeks, it would make sense for Stripling to contribute out of the bullpen whenever he is able to return.
However, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has said that he would like to get him back in the rotation at some point considering how well Stripling pitched in a starting role during the first half of the season.
Regardless of how he is utilized, the Dodgers will gladly welcome back his services down the stretch of the season for what should be a tight division race.
