The Dodgers announced today that right-hander Evan Phillips has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to right forearm discomfort. Fellow righty Matt Sauer has been recalled to take his spot on the active roster.
The club hasn’t provided any details about Phillips but it’s a concerning announcement. It’s always somewhat worrisome when a pitcher’s elbow/forearm are the cause of an IL stint and it only exacerbates what has already been a challenging year for the righty. Phillips was left off the Dodgers’ World Series roster last year. An MRI revealed nerve irritation in his shoulder and he was also dealing with tightness in his lat, triceps and biceps, as well as arm fatigue.
Coming into 2025, he revealed that he has been diagnosed with a small tear of a tendon in his rotator cuff during the playoffs. The issue still wasn’t fully resolved by Opening Day 2025, with Phillips starting the season on the 15-day IL. The club listed his ailment as a right rotator cuff strain. He was reinstated from the IL in mid-April. He has since pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings but is now back on the shelf again.
Time will tell how serious this current issue is. For the time being, the Dodger bullpen is once again deprived of a potential weapon. From 2022 to 2024, Phillips tossed 179 innings for the Dodgers with a 2.21 earned run average, 29.6% strikeout rate, 6.5% walk rate and 42.6% ground ball rate. He served as the club’s primary closer for stretches in there, earning 24 saves in 2023 and 18 last year.
Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron, Imagn Images
If the media would just call it “sore arm” instead of “forearm discomfort”, Phillips’ chances of pitching again this year would go up considerably.
How?
“How?”…Don’t overthink, analyze or dissect a joke too much or it begins to fall apart.
Only if it’s a bad joke.
@mlb. Thank you quoting the part of David’s comment you’re reply to, otherwise we never would have known what section of the comment you were responding to.
The fact that Roberts said it’s precautionary and he will be back in 15 days leads me to believe it’s serious.
ominous, indeed
Hopefully it’s not an ongoing issue all season long. He’s a bullpen arm that I trust when it matters most.
Chances of going to the playoffs decreased 71.34%. still a 2,398% chance of making it.
(Getting out world’s smallest violin)
He’s still in arbitration. No matter what you think of the team this potentially has career changing implications for his earning potential.
In other words, grow up
Bet Kenta Maeda comes back as starting pitcher depth for now and bullpen help later when the starters return from the IL. I really think this would be a nice move
Don’t need Maeda period.
This raises the question of just what Dodgers coaches are teaching the pitching staff. Whatever they are doing, it is resulting in their pitchers constantly being injured.
More likely Phillips was pitching threw the same injury he had in spring training and has probably made it worse. There was a reason the Dodgers jumped on Scott and Yates right after each other