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Tyler Glasnow To Be Shut Down 10 to 14 Days

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The Dodgers placed right-hander Tyler Glasnow on the 15-day injured list due to shoulder inflammation this week. It seems he’ll be out longer than that. Manager Dave Roberts tells Sonja Chen of MLB.com that Glasnow will be shut down from throwing for 10 to 14 days and will be re-evaluated from there.

It’s a different outlook compared to just two days ago. When Glasnow landed on the IL on Monday, Roberts downplayed the severity. He said that Glasnow was merely dealing with “overall body soreness” but didn’t have anything structurally wrong with his shoulder.

A shutdown period of 10 to 14 days means that Glasnow will be gone longer than that. Even if he’s cleared to resume throwing at that time, he would have to ramp back up and perhaps make a few rehab starts in the minor leagues.

Glasnow has a reputation for strong work on a rate basis but he’s never logged bulk innings. He got to 134 frames last year, a personal high despite it being his ninth major league season. Elbow problems, including 2021 Tommy John surgery, have often been the culprit. He’s also had some back and oblique issues over the years, with this shoulder inflammation the latest problem.

It seems the Dodgers will have to assume that they won’t have Glasnow for at least a few weeks, perhaps longer, depending on how he responds in the next 10 to 14 days. They started the season with Glasnow in the rotation alongside Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki and Dustin May.

The group has thinned since then. Snell hit the IL after just two starts, due to inflammation in his throwing shoulder. The Dodgers also thought that was a relatively minor issue, though Snell was eventually shut down due to ongoing soreness. Glasnow is now in a somewhat similar boat, with an uncertain path back from a shutdown period.

Tony Gonsolin started the season on the IL due to a back injury but was reinstated today. He gives the club a fourth starter alongside May, Yamamoto and Sasaki. The Dodgers are off tomorrow, which will give the staff a bit of a breather, but they play ten straight after that.

Ben Casparius and Yoendrys Gómez are both currently in the bullpen and capable of working multiple innings. Justin Wrobleski, Bobby Miller, Landon Knack and Matt Sauer are currently on optional assignment but have been up with the big league club at times to help out and could do so again.

Clayton Kershaw is on a rehab assignment but is also on the 60-day IL, meaning he can’t rejoin the club for a few more weeks. Shohei Ohtani is theoretically going to return to the mound at some point this year, though it’s unclear how the Dodgers plan to have him ramp up while also serving as the designated hitter, or when that will be. He underwent UCL surgery late in 2023 and didn’t pitch last year. He also required arthroscopic shoulder surgery on his non-throwing arm just after the club’s World Series victory in the fall.

It’s possible the club will be getting Glasnow, Snell, Kershaw and Ohtani back into the mix in the coming weeks or months but there’s not much clarity in there and the team will have to patch things together until then, likely with some spot starts or bullpen games, or perhaps one of their depth guys will get a longer rotation audition. The Dodgers are also keeping Yamamoto and Sasaki on the weekly pitching schedule preferred in Japan, which will increase the likelihood of creative solutions.

Photo courtesy of Jerome Miron, Imagn Images

Dodgers Place Tyler Glasnow On Injured List

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The Dodgers placed Tyler Glasnow on the 15-day injured list with right shoulder inflammation. Reliever Noah Davis is up from Triple-A Oklahoma City to take his spot on the active roster.

Glasnow left yesterday’s start after one inning upon experiencing shoulder discomfort. It was the second consecutive early exit for the 6’8″ right-hander, who had departed his previous start with cramping in his calf. Shoulder soreness is a more concerning development, though manager Dave Roberts somewhat downplayed the issue when speaking with reporters before tonight’s game against Miami. Roberts indicated Glasnow was battling through “overall body soreness” but stated they didn’t believe there was anything structurally wrong with his shoulder (via Jack Harris of The Los Angeles Times).

While the inflammation diagnosis aligns with that, it leaves an uncertain timeline for Glasnow’s return. It’s the third IL stint of his year-plus tenure in Los Angeles. He missed a bit of time around the All-Star Break last season with a mild back concern. An August elbow sprain ended his season and prevented him from contributing during the playoff run. Glasnow’s 134 innings nevertheless represented the heaviest workload of his major league career, as durability has long been his biggest question.

Glasnow’s command has been wobbly in the early going. He has walked 11 hitters and given up four home runs through his first 18 innings. That has led to a mediocre 4.50 earned run average even though he’s striking out 30% of opponents. He was excellent last season before the injury, working to a 3.49 ERA with a 32.2% strikeout rate.

The Dodgers now have eight starting pitchers on the injured list. They’ll get one back when Tony Gonsolin makes his season debut on Wednesday. Gonsolin is the only short-term reinforcement. All the other injured starters aside from Glasnow and Blake Snell are on the 60-day IL and won’t be back until late May at the earliest. Snell remains shut down from throwing with shoulder soreness of his own.

Los Angeles is off Thursday but will play on 10 straight days from May 2-11. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Dustin May, Roki Sasaki and Gonsolin will be part of the regular rotation. For the final turn, they could opt for spot starts or bullpen games from the group of Landon Knack, Justin Wrobleski and Bobby Miller. One other option would be to build Ben Casparius back into a starting role, which Roberts said this evening is on the table (via Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic).

Casparius has worked from the bullpen during his big league career. His lone “start” went 2 2/3 innings to kick off a bullpen game. He built up to 3 2/3 frames during yesterday’s outing after the Glasnow injury. Casparius started 19 of 21 appearances in Triple-A last season, so he’s familiar with the role. He has worked to a 2.91 ERA while striking out 27.1% of opponents over 11 games in his first extended big league action.

Tyler Glasnow Leaves Start Due To Shoulder Discomfort

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Tyler Glasnow lasted just one inning into today’s start against the Pirates, as the Dodgers right-hander left the mound while taking his warm-up pitches before the beginning of the second frame.  The Dodgers officially announced that Glasnow left the game due to discomfort in his throwing shoulder.  Following the game, Glasnow told the Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya and other reporters that he’s been dealing with some shoulder soreness recently, calling it a side effect of mechanical changes he’s made to try and reduce stress on his elbow.  Manager Roberts said an IL stint for Glasnow is “certainly a possibility,” though more tests will be done before the club makes a decision.

This would be an ominous situation for any pitcher, yet it is particularly troublesome in Glasnow’s case given his long injury history.  Glasnow hasn’t been sidelined with a specific shoulder-related issue since way back in his 2016 rookie season, yet the righty has missed big chunks of his career due to a Tommy John surgery, a severe oblique strain, a forearm strain, and two elbows strains.  The most recent of those elbow strains came just last season, as Glasnow didn’t pitch after August 11 and subsequently missed out on the Dodgers’ entire playoff run.

Glasnow’s elbow sprain cut short what had been the healthiest season of his entire career.  He tossed a career-best 134 innings in 2024, while posting a 3.49 ERA, 32.2% strikeout rate, and 6.7% walk rate.  Glasnow had a 3.71 ERA in four starts and 17 innings prior to today’s abbreviated outing, with a much higher walk rate and a fastball that’s been a mile per hour slower than his 2024 velocity (though that drop isn’t necessarily a huge concern this early in a season).  This is actually the second straight start that Glasnow has made an early exit; leg cramps forced him out during the fifth inning of his last outing on April 20.

Even if just as a precautionary measure, it would seem like Glasnow is probably headed to the 15-day injured list, creating yet another wrinkle in the revolving door that is the Dodgers’ rotation.  Roberts announced just earlier today that Tony Gonsolin was expected to be activated from the 15-day IL to start Wednesday’s game, marking Gonsolin’s long-awaited return to action after he underwent Tommy John surgery late in the 2023 season.  Gonsolin was already replacing Blake Snell, who went on the shelf due to shoulder inflammation.

Los Angeles has been dealing with a seemingly unending list of pitching injuries in recent years, though the team’s sheer volume of available arms (and its star-studded lineup) has continued to keep the Dodgers on the winning track.  They’ll have to dip into that depth again if Glasnow is out of action, though it will still be a couple of weeks until Clayton Kershaw is eligible to be activated from the 60-day IL.  Kershaw is set for two Triple-A rehab starts this coming week as the future Hall-of-Famer is hopefully in the final ramp-up stages towards his 2025 debut.

Dodgers Notes: Gonsolin, Snell, Ohtani

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The Dodgers are set to get some rotation reinforcements this week, as manager Dave Roberts told reporters (including Mike DiGiovanna of the Associated Press) yesterday that right-hander Tony Gonsolin is expected to return from the injured list to start Wednesday’s game against the Marlins.

It will mark Gonsolin’s first appearance on a big league mound in nearly two full years. The right-hander last pitched on August 18, 2023 (against the Marlins, coincidentally) but surrendered ten runs on five homers in 3 1/3 innings of work after having pitched through arm troubles for weeks. That final difficult start capped off a six-start stretch where Gonsolin surrendered an 8.01 ERA in 30 1/3 innings of work, so it’s not hard to see the impact Gonsolin’s woes had on his effectiveness. The right-hander was placed on the IL after that mid-August start and underwent Tommy John surgery on September 1.

He missed the entire 2024 season as a result of his rehab despite flirting with the possibility of a late-season return, and entered Spring Training fully healthy and ready to battle for a rotation job this spring. Unfortunately, the injury bug once again bit him when he was hit with a bout of back tightness late in the spring. That led to another season started on the injured list, but now he looks poised to finally get back on the major league mound as a starting pitcher. That’s the role he held for the entirety of his best season in the majors, when he made the 2022 NL All-Star team on the back of a 2.14 ERA in 130 1/3 innings of work across 24 starts.

Whether he’ll keep that role long-term or move to the bullpen at some point this year remains to be seen. It wouldn’t be a shock to see a strong performance keep Gonsolin in the mix for starts all year long, but he does have some big league experience as a reliever and the Dodgers’ on-paper rotation is extremely crowded when anything close to fully healthy. When the club’s rotation mix is firing on all cylinders, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Shohei Ohtani, Dustin May, and Roki Sasaki all seem likely to be ahead of Gonsolin on the organizational depth chart. With that being said, the Dodgers’ rotation mix is far from healthy at the moment, so Gonsolin should get a reasonably long runway as he looks to earn a more permanent spot on the starting staff.

Speaking of those rotation injuries, Roberts provided reporters (including ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez) with an update regarding Snell on Friday. Per Roberts, an MRI Snell underwent earlier in the week revealed “no new findings” beyond his previously-known shoulder inflammation. The manager added that he believes the club has “dodged a bullet” by shutting Snell down before the injury became more serious. The southpaw was set to receive an injection to help battle the inflammation but has yet to begin a throwing program. That leaves a timetable for his return to action somewhat murky, though Roberts suggested that the lack of structural damage leaves the door open for a somewhat quicker return to action.

Barring further setbacks, it seems as though Snell should at least be back on a big league mound before Ohtani. The two-way superstar threw his first bullpen session since returning from paternity leave yesterday, as relayed by MLB.com’s Sonja Chen. After not throwing last Saturday during his absence, Ohtani played catch rather than throw off the mound on Wednesday and limited his bullpen session yesterday to just 31 pitches, but he’s expected to resume his regular schedule of light mound work on Wednesdays and a full bullpen session on Saturdays this coming week.

While it’s good that Ohtani has resumed throwing, it appears that there’s been little progress in terms of his actual readiness of MLB games. He’s still limited to just fastballs and splitters for the time being, and won’t advance to facing live hitters until he’s utilizing his entire pitch mix. Club GM Brandon Gomes discussed Ohtani’s slow-going rehab with reporters (including Chen) yesterday, calling it “a week-by-week process.”

“We have a general sense, we’ve got to make sure that he’s feeling good and we’re being smart so we can’t lose the offensive side of it as well,” Gomes said, as relayed by Chen. “In a lot of these rehabs, you kind of set a date and work backward. I think on this one, you’re moving forward, because it’s a one-of-one type thing.”

While the Dodgers floated the month of May as a potential timeline for Ohtani’s return during the winter, Ohtani’s pitching build up was paused prior to L.A.’s series against the Cubs in Tokyo. That pushed back his timeline, and while no dates have been floated for his return since then it seems likely that he’ll resume pitching in the majors again at some point in the second half.

Eddie Rosario Elects Free Agency

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Eddie Rosario elected free agency on Friday, according to his transaction log on MLB.com (h/t Eric Stephen of True Blue LA). The Dodgers designated the veteran outfielder for assignment last weekend when they activated Shohei Ohtani from the paternity list. After Rosario cleared waivers, the Dodgers sent him outright to Triple-A Oklahoma City, but he exercised his right to reject the outright assignment in favor of free agency.

The lefty-batting Rosario made it into two games during his brief stint with the Dodgers while Ohtani was away, starting at DH against a pair of tough right-handed pitchers: Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi. Both times, he was lifted for a pinch-hitter after two plate appearances when a left-handed reliever entered the game. He went 1-for-4, knocking a single against Eovaldi. While he ultimately didn’t make much of an impact in either game, Rosario put the ball in play in each of his four trips to the plate. All four batted balls registered as hard-hit, and three had an expected batting average above .500, per Statcast.

Rosario has played in 11 big league seasons for the Twins, Guardians, Braves, Nationals, and Dodgers. As recently as 2023, Rosario was a perfectly capable major leaguer, putting up a .755 OPS and a 100 wRC+ in 142 games for Atlanta. However, that season was sandwiched between two abysmal performances; Rosario ranked among the bottom five players in FanGraphs WAR in both 2022 and ’24. His 2024 season was so rough that he lost jobs in three separate organizations (Nationals, Braves, and Mets).

Rosario is still just 33 and not so far removed from a 1.3 fWAR season in 2023. The best team in baseball saw enough to like in his bat to bring him into the organization and let him take his hacks against a pair of high-end starting pitchers. He also put up impressive numbers in 14 games for Oklahoma City, batting .339 with a 137 wRC+. That’s a tiny sample size (and his .419 BABIP was hardly sustainable), but eight of his 20 hits went for extra bases, and his 8:16 strikeout-to-walk ratio was solid. That should be enough for Rosario to land another minor league deal, provided he’s willing to be flexible about where he ends up.

Dodgers Claim Yoendrys Gómez

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April 26: The Dodgers have formally added Gómez to their active roster. In a corresponding move, the team optioned right-hander Noah Davis.

April 25: The Dodgers have claimed right-hander Yoendrys Gómez off waivers from the Yankees, according to announcements from both clubs. The Yankees designated him for assignment earlier this week. The Dodgers have had an open 40-man roster spot since designating outfielder Eddie Rosario for assignment on the weekend. Since Gómez is out of options, they will need to open an active roster spot for him once he reports to the club.

Gómez, 25, joins a new organization for the first time. The Yankees signed him as an international amateur out of Venezuela back in 2016. As he climbed the ladder, he worked his way into being one of the top 30 prospects in the system. The Yankees added him to their 40-man roster in November of 2020 to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft.

Since then, he has hardly been given a chance to face major league hitters. He used up three option years in the 2021-2023 seasons. Tommy John surgery in 2021 played a role there, as he wasn’t able to pitch much in that year or in 2022. The Yankees were given a fourth option for 2024, but he came into 2025 out of options and with just 13 1/3 innings of major league pitching under his belt. He held a long relief role for the first few weeks of this season, tossing 10 innings over six appearances.

Overall, Gómez has a 3.09 earned run average in 23 1/3 big league innings to this point. That’s not much to go on, but his minor league numbers are presumably intriguing to the Dodgers. Across 2023 and 2024, he tossed 148 2/3 innings on the farm with a 3.63 ERA. His 12.3% walk rate was on the high side but he struck out 27.7% of batters faced.

The Dodgers are generally willing to bet on talented but injury-prone pitchers and often find themselves rotating through various arms over the course of a season. At the moment, they have 12 pitchers on the injured list. Many of those underwent major surgeries last year, meaning the club wasn’t counting on them to contribute in 2025. However, they have also seen guys like Blake Snell, Blake Treinen and Tony Gonsolin get hurt in the past few weeks.

Right now, their rotation is down to Tyler Glasnow, Dustin May, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki. The club is trying to keep Yamamoto and Sasaki on a weekly pitching schedule, which is customary in Japan. As such, they have been doing the occasional spot start or bullpen game. Guys like Landon Knack, Justin Wrobleski and Bobby Miller have made spot starts this month. On Wednesday, Ben Casparius started a bullpen game, with six relievers coming in after him. They also used seven pitchers in Tuesday’s extra-innings game at Wrigley.

The Dodgers had an off-day yesterday but have leaned heavily on their staff. Gómez will give them a fresh arm whenever he meets up with them. He tossed three innings for the Yanks on Monday, so he should be able to be deployed as a multi-inning guy in some capacity. The Dodgers have Yamamoto, Sasaki, Glasnow and May scheduled to pitch the next four games but might need another sport start and/or bullpen game by Tuesday. Gonsolin tossed five innings in a rehab start on Wednesday, so he might be a factor in the club’s plans as well.

Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images

Dodgers, Nick Senzel Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Dodgers have reached agreement with infielder Nick Senzel on a minor league contract, reports Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extrabase. He’ll presumably head to Triple-A Oklahoma City.

Senzel makes his return to affiliated ball after a brief stop in Mexico. The former #2 overall pick had signed with the Mexican League’s Tecolotes de los Dos Laredos. It didn’t take long for him to find interest from a big league club. Senzel hit .591 with three homers, four walks, and one strikeout over six games. That attracts attention even in an exceptionally hitter-friendly league.

A veteran of parts of six MLB seasons, Senzel divided last year between a pair of rebuilding clubs. He signed a $2MM deal with the Nationals and was released in July after hitting .209/.303/.359 over 64 games. Senzel briefly caught on with the White Sox, but they moved on after just 10 appearances. He elected free agency in August and had remained unsigned until getting the opportunity in Mexico.

Senzel never panned out as the Reds had expected when they drafted him so highly. He turned in a .239/.302/.369 line through parts of five seasons — much of that spent as Cincinnati’s primary third baseman. He’ll try to get back to the highest level in Los Angeles, where third base has been an issue. Max Muncy is out to a .171/.273/.237 start with 32 strikeouts in 88 plate appearances.

Dodgers Shut Down Blake Snell

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Dodgers left-hander Blake Snell likely won’t be returning to the club soon. Manager Dave Roberts told members of the media, including Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic, that the southpaw “didn’t feel great” after a recent catch session. He will be shut down and it’s possible he’ll be sent for more imaging. He’ll be re-examined when the club gets back to Los Angeles, per Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times. The Dodgers are at Wrigley tonight, then have an off-day Thursday before starting a new homestand on Friday.

Snell started the season healthy but landed on the injured list after just two starts due to shoulder inflammation. An MRI at that time didn’t find any structural damage and the club was hopeful that he wouldn’t miss too much time. It’s now been three weeks since his last appearance and this latest shutdown figures to extend his timeline.

More information will likely be revealed in the coming days as the Dodgers conduct more tests but it’s obviously not encouraging for him to have any kind of setback or recurrence of discomfort. The Dodgers signed him to a five-year, $182MM deal in the offseason, though with some deferrals. He got that big payday on account of strong production on a rate basis. He has only twice pitched more than 130 innings in a season, with both of those seasons resulting in Cy Young awards.

The Dodgers surely were aware that they might have a few IL stints from Snell over the course of his contract, based on past precedent. In other seasons, he has managed to post decent results around his injuries. That was the case last year. He followed up his 2023 Cy Young season with an uneven campaign in 2024. He went on the IL a couple of times due to groin issues and had a 9.51 ERA at the end of June, but then dominated the rest of the way with a 1.23 ERA in the final three months.

That was an extreme example of a general trend in Snell’s career, as he has almost always been a slow starter and strong finisher. For his career, he has a 3.92 first half ERA but a 2.39 ERA in the second half. Time will tell if this is a significant ailment or just another instalment of Snell’s typical magic. The Dodgers surely care more about Snell’s ability to contribute in October, so it makes sense to be cautious with anything at this time of year.

Snell is one of a number of Dodger starters on the injured list. Each of Emmet Sheehan, Kyle Hurt, River Ryan and Gavin Stone are out after undergoing major arm surgeries last year. Clayton Kershaw underwent knee and foot surgery and is still working his way back. Tony Gonsolin suffered a back injury during spring training.

Right now, the healthy rotation consists of Tyler Glasnow, Dustin May, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki. Gonsolin and Kershaw are both currently on rehab assignments and could return in the coming weeks, though it’s a bit short-handed for now, especially with the club keeping Yamamoto and Sasaki on weekly pitching schedules. Ben Casparius is starting a bullpen game tonight after the Dodgers used six relievers in last night’s extra-innings loss.

Photo courtesy of Gary A. Vasquez, Imagn Images

Dodgers Notes: Treinen, Snell, Glasnow

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Veteran reliever Blake Treinen was placed on the 15-day injured list yesterday due to tightness in his right forearm, and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shed more light on Treinen’s situation when speaking with the Orange County Register’s Bill Plunkett and other reporters today.  Specifically, Treinen has a “low-grade sprain of the forearm,” as Roberts described it, as some forearm discomfort throughout the week resurfaced Friday when Treinen was warming up to enter the game.

“He was one hitter away as he was warming up to go into the game,” Roberts said.  “Obviously, if he were to pitch, it could have been potentially worse.  So I would say we’re in the dodged-a-bullet category.”

An MRI revealed the sprain yesterday, and Treinen will get more testing done before a recovery timeline is established.  Roberts’ view of the injury seemed relatively positive, though even if Treinen has avoided a more long-term problem, it stands to reason that he’ll miss more than just 15 days just out of natural precaution when dealing with forearm-related injuries.

Treinen’s first four seasons in Los Angeles yielded excellent (if often injury-plagued) results, leading to a two-year, $22MM deal to rejoin the club this past offseason.  Treinen was off to a solid start in 2025, if a bit of a step back only in comparison to his past standards since coming to the Dodgers prior to the 2020 season.  Over eight innings and eight appearances this year, Treinen has a 3.38 ERA, 27.8% strikeout rate, and 8.3% walk rate.

Turning to another Blake on the Dodgers’ injured list, Saturday marked Blake Snell’s first bullpen session since he was placed on the 15-day IL with left shoulder inflammation.  Snell told The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya that he will need at least one more bullpen and simulated game before exploring a rehab assignment, but as for the first step, Snell left his initial bullpen session feeling “way better.”

Snell hasn’t pitched since April 2, and it would seem like his IL stint will last over a month, given the number of steps remaining in the recovery process.  While the shoulder inflammation doesn’t seem like anything too serious, it does add to Snell’s history of both injuries and first-half struggles.  Snell did have a 2.00 ERA in his first two starts and nine innings of the 2025 season, but for his career, he has a 3.95 ERA prior to the All-Star break and then a 2.34 ERA in the second half.

The L.A. rotation had another minor injury scare in today’s 1-0 win over the Rangers, as Tyler Glasnow left with an apparent leg injury after throwing his first pitch of the fifth inning.  Fortunately, the team announced that Glasnow left due to only leg cramps, and Glasnow told MLB.com’s Sonja Chen and other reporters that he believes he’ll be able to make his next start.  The Dodgers have off-days on both Monday and Thursday this week, so Glasnow will get a full week before he is next scheduled to take the mound on April 27 against the Pirates.

Dodgers Activate Shohei Ohtani, Designate Eddie Rosario For Assignment

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The Dodgers announced this morning that they have designated outfielder Eddie Rosario for assignment. The move comes in order to create a roster spot for Shohei Ohtani, who is returning to the club from the paternity list after he and his wife announced the birth of their daughter yesterday on social media.

Rosario, 33, always figured to be a temporary addition to the Dodgers roster. Now a veteran of 11 MLB seasons, Rosario spent the first portion of his MLB career as an effective and reliable corner bat for the Twins. He slashed .277/.310/.478 across 697 games in a Twins uniform, good for a 106 wRC+ that jumped up to 112 when looking only at his final four seasons with the team. During that stretch from 2017 to 2020, Rosario showed consistent 25-homer power and paired it with an impressively low 16.5% strikeout rate. That allowed him to offer a valuable blend of power and contact.

In the years since then, however, Rosario’s been an at times solid but largely inconsistent hitter. Playing for Cleveland, Atlanta, and D.C. from 2021 to 2024, Rosario slashed just .231/.278/.396 (82 wRC+) overall as his strikeout rate climbed to 21.6% while his power declined noticeably. The 2021 and ’23 seasons saw Rosario play at a roughly league average level overall with a 100 wRC+ in both seasons, with flashes of 20-homer pop making him a capable hitter despite the increased strikeout rate. 2022 saw him struggle badly at the plate (63 wRC+) due to vision problems that were ultimately corrected, while his problems at the dish (45 wRC+) in 2024 came in spite of him being generally healthy.

That lackluster performance was enough to force Rosario to take a minor league deal with the Dodgers this winter, and he didn’t make the roster out of camp due to Teoscar Hernandez, Michael Conforto, and Ohtani blocking him in the outfield corners and at DH. Rosario was selected to the roster earlier this week to replace Ohtani in the lineup while he went on the paternity list. His brief stay in the majors this year saw him hit just .250/.250/.250 with a 41 wRC+, but it should be noted that he didn’t record a single strikeout and made several loud outs during his extremely brief, two-game trip back up to the majors. Going forward, the Dodgers will have one week to either trade Rosario or place him on waivers, where he could be claimed by any club. If he goes unclaimed, Rosario will have the choice to either accept an outright assignment back to Triple-A with the Dodgers or else head to free agency and look for a better opportunity elsewhere.

As for Ohtani, the reigning NL MVP rejoins a Dodgers club that suffered a frustrating walk-off loss to the Rangers last night. Prior to his trip to the paternity list, Ohtani was excellent as ever with a .288/.380/.550 slash line across 20 games and 92 plate appearances this year, with six home runs and five stolen bases. Needless to say, the superstar figures to reclaim his spot atop the Dodgers’ lineup as their everyday DH now that he’s back with the club.

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