The Los Angeles Dodgers activated Andre Ethier off the 60-day disabled list on Friday, marking a second consecutive year the veteran outfielder returns for the final month of the regular season. Last year, Ethier was sidelined after suffering a fractured tibia.
Ethier’s undoing this season was a herniated disc in his lower back. In both cases, the injuries were not expected to keep him on the disabled list for a prolonged stretch. The Dodgers initially targeted a return some time in April.
Ethier was transferred to the 60-day DL in May and his timeline slipped further into the calendar on multiple occasions. It wasn’t until recently that a final date of Sept. 1 took hold.
The Dodgers reinstated the 35-year-old despite a sore neck bring his rehab assignment to an end earlier this week. Ethier went a combined 7-for-32 with two doubles, six RBI, four walks and eight strikeouts over 10 games.
Included in that was a modest three-game hitting streak while with Double-A Tulsa. Ethier spent time with High-A Rancho Cucamonga, the Drillers, and Triple-A Oklahoma City. He made six starts in left field (two with each affiliate) and three in right while with Tulsa.
Just like last season, Ethier figures to primarily serve as a pinch-hitter. Of his 16 games played in 2016, only three were starts. He nonetheless was included on the Dodgers postseason roster and made a combined seven pinch-hit appearances during the National League Division Series and NL Championship Series.
It wasn’t until this past spring that Ethier felt fully recovered from the spiral fracture that cost him last season. He went 6-for-12 with one double, one home run, six walks and two RBI in eight Cactus League games and was competing for a starting role in left field, which made a second straight lost season all the more frustrating.
The Dodgers needed to create room on their 40-man roster for Ethier and the call-ups of O’Koyea Dickson and Alex Verdugo, which was solved by transferring Grant Dayton to the 60-day disabled list and designating Brett Eibner and Luis Ysla for assignment.
