Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing is set for right elbow surgery on Wednesday, a procedure first reported by Maddie Lee of the Los Angeles Times.
The operation is expected to be a hybrid internal brace procedure, and the recovery timetable is significant: Rushing is expected to be away from catching for nine months. He should be able to hit again before that, with a possible return to hitting by the start of the 2027 season.
That leaves the Dodgers with a bigger question than just when Rushing will be healthy. His bat may be back before his throwing, but without the ability to catch, his path back onto the roster is complicated.
Rushing, 25, originally landed on the injured list in early August after suffering a partially torn UCL. At that point, the Dodgers were hoping rest might get him back before the end of the season.
He did make an attempt to return. Rushing rejoined the club on Sept. 1 as a hitting option and started a throwing progression, but that plan hit a snag when he suffered a setback. He wound up back on the injured list.
Rushing later returned again at the end of the regular season, but he managed only three at-bats before the Dodgers left him off the postseason roster in favor of top prospect Josue De Paula.
Even with the season ending the way it did, Rushing said he was motivated by the effort to get back.
“In my eyes, me trying to throw is me showing them that obviously I want to help the team win,” he said at the time. “I want to give us the best available option that we have at that moment, and that was my whole plan all along. So I hope they see there wasn’t any selfishness in that.”
Before the injury shut him down, Rushing put together a solid 2026 season. In 80 games, he hit .246 with 12 home runs, 36 RBIs and an OPS of .788.
For the Dodgers, the catching issue looms large. Shohei Ohtani already fills the full-time designated hitter role, which makes a bat-only player harder to carry. Even if Rushing is ready to hit by the start of next season, it’s tough to see how he fits on the 26-man roster unless he can catch again.
A move to another position could be a theoretical option, including first base, but Freddie Freeman has that spot covered.
That’s why the Dodgers appear headed toward relying on Will Smith and Hunter Feduccia behind the plate. Feduccia, acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays ahead of the trade deadline, hit .197 with an OPS of .585 in 34 games with Los Angeles and did not appear in a postseason game.
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