Again facing a shortage of healthy starting pitchers, the Los Angeles Dodgers have moved Ben Casparius into their rotation for at least the time being, and are expected to activate Emmet Sheehan off the 60-day injured list this week.
Sheehan has been with the Dodgers since Saturday and threw a bullpen session at Dodger Stadium on Sunday.
“I think it’s a very high likelihood he’s going to be activated this this week. We just don’t know if it’s going to be Tuesday or Wednesday,” manager Dave Roberts said.
Regardless of which day Sheehan pitches, it will come against the San Diego Padres. The more likely scenario may be for Sheehan to get activated for Wednesday’s game. That would give the right-hander five days worth of rest between outings.
Sheehan started his rehab assignment with the Arizona Complex League Dodgers on May 26 and followed that by pitching three times for Triple-A Oklahoma City.
Sheehan pitched to a combined 3.97 ERA and 0.97 WHIP in the four outings. He had allowed one run or fewer in each rehab start before giving up four last week to the Albuquerque Isotopes in a notoriously hitter-friendly ballpark.
“I think the stuff was better than the line score,” Roberts said last week.
That’s part of the Dodgers being impressed overall with how Sheehan has rebounded since having Tommy John surgery in May 2024.
“I think coming off Tommy John, you just really don’t know what to expect. We saw a little bit of it in Spring Training and all the reports from that point to now, it’s just been really positive every time out,” Roberts said. “He’s been holding his stuff, the physicality, he’ll be a nice infusion if it works out.”
Given his relatively brief rehab assignment, the Dodgers anticipate Sheehan only being in position to provide four innings, or around 60 to 65 pitches.
Impact of Emmet Sheehan joining Dodgers rotation
The Dodgers currently have Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Clayton Kershaw and Dustin May as seemingly permanent fixtures in their rotation. Along with Casparius and Sheehan joining the group this week, so too is Shohei Ohtani, though just as an opener initially.
Roberts believes the Dodgers will still have room for Casparius and Sheehan to be in the starting rotation, and that sentiment is further supported by Roki Sasaki suffering a setback and no longer being a guarantee to return this season.
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