LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers on Sunday placed catcher Dalton Rushing on the 10-day injured list with right elbow discomfort. The irony here is Rushing wasn’t expected to catch while active this month, but aggravated his partially torn UCL during pregame workouts on Saturday.
“He’s not going to swing for a few days, and then will build up to the swinging progression,” manager Dave Roberts said Sunday. “Then at that point and time he could take some at-bats on a rehab assignment, and we’ll see where we’re
at.”
The move was backdated to Saturday, so the earliest Rushing could be activated is September 15.
It was always a long shot that Rushing would catch again this season, but now that’s been officially ruled out. He also won’t do any sort of throwing progression.
“For us, for Dalton, it’s more we’ll get through this year, building up the hitting, then kind of see where the offseason takes us,” Roberts said.
Eliezer Alfonzo was recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City, so the Dodgers will carry three catchers for the time being. Roberts said this will allow Hunter Feduccia to be used at times as a left-handed pinch-hitter when he’s not catching.
It will also free up Will Smith to be used solely as a pinch-hitter in days he doesn’t start behind the plate. Since getting activated from the injured list, Smith will have started four of the six games including Sunday night. In the two other games — Wednesday and Saturday — Smith was used as a pinch-hitter and remained in the game to catch the final inning both times.
Though Shohei Ohtani could return to the lineup as early as Monday, Smith could be considered for some starts at designated hitter down the stretch, though Roberts cautioned the Dodgers want to be mindful of Smith’s ramp up after missing three and a half months on the injured list.
