LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers re-made their bench on Friday in the wake of injuries to Teoscar and Kiké Hernandez.
Outfielder Teoscar Hernandez was moved to the injured list after suffering a left hamstring strain during Wednesday’s game against the Colorado Rockies. An examination revealed just a Grade 1 strain, giving the Dodgers hope that he won’t be sidelined quite as long as first feared.
“The MRI read better than we had expected,” Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes said before the series opener against the Philadelphia Phillies. “Once he gets going, we’re hoping it’ll be a quick return, and we’ll try to get him some rehab at-bats. When that happened last year (a groin muscle injury Hernandez suffered in May), we probably rushed it a bit on that front. So we’re kind of getting treatment for the next however many days, and then as he starts getting into things, how he’s responding, we’ll see. But it’s not as severe as we had thought it was.”
Ryan Ward was called up from Triple-A Oklahoma City. It’s his second promotion this season and likely to last longer than his first callup – a two-game cameo while first baseman Freddie Freeman was on the paternity list. Ward was hitting .254 with a .797 OPS at OKC – not up to the standards he set last season when he was the Pacific Coast League MVP.
Ward has played just nine games in left field for OKC this season. But he will share playing time there with Alex Call, though it won’t be a strict left-right platoon between the two.
“Each guy will play a decent amount and (we’ll) kind of let Doc decide based on matchup and how guys are doing and play it out,” Gomes said. “But I think Ward-o will get a good shot here. Definitely plan to mix AC in there, because he’s certainly earned it.”
With utility man Kiké Hernandez on the IL with an oblique injury, the Dodgers also re-signed Santiago Espinal and returned him to the active roster.
When Kiké Hernandez came off the IL on Monday, Espinal became redundant as a right-handed utility man. The Dodgers designated him for assignment, then he cleared waivers and re-signed as a free agent with the Dodgers when Hernandez was injured Tuesday.
“With a star-studded team, you also have to have guys that know their roles and Espy is a guy that is good on the team, understands his value,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Espinal, who hit .220 in 26 games this year. “He’s ready when called upon. I trust him defensively and I like him versus left-handed pitching. Just having him back is pretty seamless.”
Hyeseong Kim had survived recent roster moves despite being in an 8-for-46 (.174) slump over his past 17 games. He didn’t survive this time. He was optioned back to Triple-A as part of Friday’s maneuvering.
“I think his swing has changed,” Roberts said of Kim’s slump. “He’s losing his legs a little bit. I think he’s coming around the ball a little bit. There’s a lot more swing-and-miss than there was early (in the season).
“I think he is just playing – with my eyes – a little bit more tentative and not as free and easy as he was some parts of last year and early on.”
Signed to a three-year, $12.5 million contract when he left South Korea following the 2024 season, the Dodgers asked Kim to make significant swing changes now that he is facing better pitching on a nightly basis. Kim has yet to show consistency with the remade swing.
“We thought when he first came up (this year), he’d done some really good work with our hitting guys down in Triple-A,” Gomes said. “So our guys are going to get together as a group and put together a plan and get with Dylan (Nasiatka) in OKC and hopefully get him back to where he was earlier in the season.
“I think those things are always challenging. If you have these patterns that you’ve built into your body for a long time, naturally you want to – when the heat of competition gets going, you can see them drift back.”
SNELL 60
In order to add Espinal back to the roster, the Dodgers had to clear a 40-man roster spot. They did that by moving Blake Snell to the 60-day IL.
Snell underwent surgery 10 days ago to remove loose bodies from his left elbow. Dr. Neal ElAttrache performed the surgery using the ‘NanoNeedle’ implement – the ‘SkubalScope,’ if you will. That created the possibility that Snell’s recovery could be much shorter than the 2-3 months originally projected.
Tigers ace Tarik Skubal returned to throwing barely a week after having the procedure and threw a simulated game 20 days after the surgery. Unlike Skubal, Snell will not be a free agent this winter – or a hot trade-deadline commodity – and is not motivated to push his recovery timeline.
Snell will not be eligible to return until July 9 now.
DREYER PROGRESS
Lefty reliever Jack Dreyer threw to hitters on Friday afternoon. Dreyer is on the IL with a sore shoulder and will be eligible for activation on Sunday. Roberts said Dreyer will probably not go on a minor-league rehabilitation assignment.
“I think he threw 20, 25 pitches and came out good, used his whole pitch mix,” Roberts said. “Not sure what the next step is. I do know that on that 16th day (when he is eligible), which is coming up soon, he’s hoping to be active.”
UP NEXT
Phillies (LHP Jesus Luzardo, 4-4, 4.38 ERA) at Dodgers (RHP Roki Sasaki, 3-3, 4.93 ERA), Saturday, 7:10 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM