LOS ANGELES — Tyler Glasnow was added in a trade to solidify the Dodgers’ rotation into October and yet there remains no guarantee the right-hander will take the mound again before the playoffs begin.
Glasnow went on the injured list on Aug. 16 with right elbow tendonitis, which was characterized as mild at the time. But he is only set to resume a throwing program on Friday and has just over four weeks remaining before the regular season ends.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was asked if he believes Glasnow will be able to get in a regular-season start before the playoffs begin.
“We’re hopeful,” Roberts said. “I think there are a lot of variables, to be certain, but I think everyone in the organization is hopeful.”
On Tuesday, Roberts described Glasnow’s progress in the past week as “slow moving” and “not surprising for me that it’s taken longer than we initially thought.”
In his first season with the Dodgers, Glasnow has gone 9-6 with a 3.49 ERA and has been otherwise everything the club could have hoped for in 22 starts after he was acquired in a December trade with the Tampa Bay Rays.
But injuries have also been ever present in the career of the former Hart High standout, enough so that the 22 starts are the most he has made in any of his nine major league seasons. His 134 innings are also a career high.
If Friday’s throwing session is pain-free, Glasnow will have another on Saturday or Sunday before he progresses to throwing off a mound and then what will likely be a simulated game down the road.
“So it’s a contingent on how he’s feeling and how the buildup is, but there is certainly urgency given he hasn’t thrown a baseball in however many days and we’re getting to the end of the season,” Roberts said.
FREEMAN OUT AGAIN
First baseman Freddie Freeman missed his third consecutive game with discomfort from the fractured middle finger on his right hand, but Roberts expects his All-Star to be back in the lineup Friday for the opener of a four-game road series against the second-place Arizona Diamondbacks.
Freeman took a bad-hop grounder off the finger on Aug. 17 in St. Louis then went 3 for 24 (.130) over the next six games before he was given a mini-break.
“Hopefully over time, in the weeks to come, it will start to feel a little better and be less uncomfortable,” Roberts said. “Once he’s back in the lineup, I wouldn’t expect him to come out.”
Roberts admitted that he prioritized rest for Freeman in the days leading into the key series against the Diamondbacks.
NAILING IT DOWN
Catcher Austin Barnes was activated from the 10-day injured list after taking time to heal a fractured left toe that happened when he took a foul ball to the foot on Aug. 18 in St. Louis.
To make room on the active roster, catcher Hunter Feduccia was optioned back to Triple-A Oklahoma City.
“It’s a little something that’s there but it’s not crazy,” Barnes said about still feeling residual soreness.
Barnes said that while the toenail remains intact, he expects it to fall off eventually.
“I think it’s going to go,” Barnes said. “I’ve had this happen before. I didn’t have a toe that was broken but I had a nail that came off. It’s kind of weird because you don’t have a toenail for a while and it feels weird.”
SPRINT MODE
Right-hander Brusdar Graterol participated in pitchers’ fielding practice before Thursday’s game, running at what appeared to be full speed at one point while covering the first-base bag.
“I missed it but I heard it was really good and it seemed like he could have stolen a base tonight,” Roberts said. “How he recovered from what we saw a few weeks ago to now, prayers were answered.
The workout came after his 30-pitch bullpen session Wednesday, but there remains no target date for a return. Graterol has made just one appearance this season – a nine-pitch outing against the Philadelphia Phillies on Aug. 6 – in between shoulder and hamstring injuries.
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Graterol has been a key piece of the Dodgers’ bullpen in recent seasons, including 2023 when he was 4-2 with a 1.20 ERA in 68 appearances (one start). He has a career 2.89 ERA in six seasons (182 appearances with five starts).
ALSO
The Dodgers will send Clayton Kershaw and Gavin Stone to the mound in the first two games of the upcoming series at Arizona, with nobody listed to start on Sunday, for now. Left-hander Justin Wrobleski, who is 1-1 with a 4.68 ERA in five starts for the Dodgers this season, is lined up to start Sunday at Oklahoma City and is an option against the Diamondbacks. … After coming out of his two-inning rehab outing for OKC on Wednesday with no issues, right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto (shoulder) is set to make a three-inning rehab start early next week according to Roberts, with a bullpen session this weekend.
UP NEXT
Dodgers (LHP Clayton Kershaw, 2-2, 3.72 ERA) at Diamondbacks (RHP Zac Gallen, 10-6, 3.65 ERA), Friday, 6:40 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM
