The Dodgers will place right-hander Kenta Maeda on the 10-day IL before tomorrow’s game, according to Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link). Maeda’s placement caps off a busy day of roster-shuffling for the Dodgers, as the team also activated lefty Caleb Ferguson from the IL and sent catcher Rocky Gale and right-hander J.T. Chargois to Triple-A. Prior to tomorrow’s game, the Dodgers will also call up utilityman Matt Beaty from Triple-A and select the contract of outfielder Kyle Garlick.
Maeda fouled a ball off his thigh in last night’s game, and the Dodgers are thusly putting him on the IL “as a precaution,” Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register tweets. Since the Dodgers have two off-days next week, it looks like Maeda will miss one start at the most while he recovers from what looks like a minor injury.
Los Angeles has deployed Maeda exclusively as a starting pitcher in 2019, and the righty has delivered his usual strong results. Though nine starts and 51 1/3 innings, Maeda has a 3.51 ERA, 9.1 K/9, and 2.60 K/BB rate, numbers that are largely backed up by advanced metrics. Maeda is inducing soft contact on 27% of his batted balls this season, the second-highest total of any qualified starter in the game.
A 28th-round pick for the Dodgers in the 2015 draft, Garlick will get his first MLB exposure after posting a 1.002 OPS over 136 PA for Triple-A Oklahoma City this season. The 27-year-old Garlick has a .283/.341/.519 slash line through 1678 career minor league plate appearances.