The Dodgers are still waiting on Will Smith, and the wait has no clear finish line.
Smith has been out since early June with an inflamed disc in his neck, and while he’s begun to pick up baseball activities again, Los Angeles still can’t say when its star catcher will be back. Dave Roberts made that part plain.
“Everything keeps moving forward, which is a good thing,” Roberts said. “There’s no timeline as far as when he faces pitching, let alone when he goes out on a ]rehab assignment]. Then we’ll have more clarity on a projected date of return, but right now I don’t know.”
Smith remains on the 60-day injured list, and the Dodgers have already been through a few false starts with his recovery. Roberts said the catcher is “back at square one” in the process, which means the next steps still have to unfold before anyone can talk seriously about a return date.
“This is something that’s uncharted territory, for him certainly. We’re sort of back at square one. I just don’t know how long that ramp up will take," Roberts said.
The club is encouraged that the work is moving forward, but the path is still the same: keep advancing only if Smith keeps checking the right boxes, then eventually send him on a rehab assignment before activating him.
“Just every marker - if he feels good, we keep advancing. There’s obviously going to be a rehab assignment behind it. I just don’t know."
Roberts also said, “It’s day to day,” adding, “I know Will is anxious to get back out there. But there still has to be a progression and games played."
Before the injury, Smith was in the middle of a rough stretch at the plate, batting .249 with six home runs and 23 RBIs while posting a .720 OPS. Smith has been hopeful of getting back by September, and the Dodgers are hoping he can return sometime over the next few weeks.
That urgency has only grown because backup catcher Dalton Rushing is now on the injured list too, and his season may be in danger. Rushing is dealing with a UCL injury and may need surgery. Before getting hurt, he was hitting .253 with 12 home runs and 36 RBIs, along with an .810 OPS.
Los Angeles is still sorting through what that means for the roster, but the hope is to keep Rushing’s left-handed bat available for the playoffs. The Dodgers, a very right-handed group, value that balance.
Because of the catching injuries, the Dodgers went out and added two more options at the trade deadline, acquiring Ben Rortvedt from the New York Mets and Hunter Feduccia from the Tampa Bay Rays.
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