Tyler Glasnow is on track to give the Dodgers a boost Tuesday, with manager Dave Roberts saying the right-hander will rejoin the club for its series against the Braves.
Glasnow has been out for more than three months because of a back injury and has been on the 60-day injured list since June. The Dodgers do have an open spot on the 40-man roster, so they won’t need to make another move at the moment.
Before the setback, Glasnow was rolling. He opened the year with a 2.72 ERA across seven starts and struck out more than a third of the hitters he faced over 39 2/3 innings. The lower back spasms first hit in early May, when he was pulled from a start against the Astros.
His rehab work has been encouraging. In his final start for Triple-A Oklahoma City, Glasnow reached 77 pitches, gave up one earned run on one hit and punched out nine batters in 5 1/3 innings. Across 11 2/3 innings with the Comets, he racked up 19 strikeouts.
Glasnow is expected to step into Justin Wrobleski’s rotation spot after Wrobleski landed on the IL Sunday with left forearm inflammation. Wrobleski threw a bullpen on Saturday, and Roberts said he’ll come back as a multi-inning reliever.
That’s a different lane than the one he was in earlier this year, when he made his first career All-Star team. The second half went sideways fast, though, as he gave up 19 earned runs over his final four starts and surrendered 11 home runs in that stretch.
Shohei Ohtani also took a step forward on Sunday, throwing 30 pitches in a live batting practice session against battery mate Will Smith, who is recovering from a neck injury. It was one of the final hurdles for Ohtani as he moves closer to pitching again. Roberts said, “If it were up to Shohei, he’d be in a game in a few days,” and added, “I would assume (there’s) another live BP, but we’re going to make sure we talk to him and get with the training staff as well.”
Ohtani last pitched on July 3 against the Padres. Before a knee injury interrupted his work on the mound, he was putting together a Cy Young-caliber season. Even while ramping back up, he has stayed in the everyday DH role.
Edwin Diaz also threw a bullpen session Sunday, but his return comes with a change in expectations. Roberts said the closer won’t reclaim that role right away.
Instead, Diaz will be eased back in lower-leverage spots after being placed on the IL earlier this week with neck inflammation. He had blown three saves in five chances after returning from elbow surgery.
“I think it’s more of getting him back healthy and then putting him in some softer-landing situations to get the confidence, to get the feel and the trust of executing pitches, getting major-league hitters out and then at that point in time we’ll go from there,” Roberts said.
Reliever Will Klein is still not officially shut down for the year, either. Klein has begun a throwing program as he deals with bone chips in his elbow, and surgery remains a possibility. He has been out all of August.
“At some point, you’d like to get them out,” Klein said. “But obviously if you get surgery now, the season’s over.
I was just sitting there thinking I didn’t want that to be how this ends. So if I can deal with how it feels - a little bit of pain is fine.
So if we can get it to a manageable point, clear it up and try to get through the rest of the year. I’d rather do that than call it now.”
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