Dodgers place pitcher Bobby Miller on injured list
Mike DiGiovanna April 13, 2024
The Dodgers rotation took a potentially significant hit during a rain delay Saturday night when the team announced that young right-hander Bobby Miller was being placed on the injured list because of shoulder inflammation.
One person familiar with Millers condition but not authorized to discuss it publicly said the injury is not severe, and that there is currently no need for surgery or any kind of operation. Miller has been shut down from throwing, but once he resumes, the Dodgers are expecting him to build back up at a normal pace.
Miller, 25, has made three starts this season, going 1-1 with a 5.40 ERA, striking out 18 and walking six in 11 innings, including a dominant regular-season debut in which he allowed two hits over six scoreless innings, struck out 11 and walked one in a 6-3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on March 29.
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But Miller wasnt as sharp in his next two starts, giving up five earned runs and four hits, striking out three and walking two in 1 innings of a 9-7 loss to the Chicago Cubs on April 5 and two earned runs and five hits, striking out four and walking three in four innings of a 3-2 loss to the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday.
The hard-throwing Miller, a first-round pick out of Louisville in 2020, had a breakout rookie year in 2023, going 11-4 with a 3.76 ERA in 22 starts, striking out 119 and walking 32 in 124 innings. Shoulder issues forced him to miss much of spring training in 2023.
Veteran left-hander Ryan Yarbrough, a long reliever who has made 68 starts in his seven-year big-league career, is the most logical candidate to replace Miller in the starting rotation.
The Dodgers also placed reliever Connor Brogdon on the injured list because of plantar fasciitis in his right foot and recalled relievers J.P. Feyereisen, a right-hander who gave up three runs in five innings of four games for triple-A Oklahoma City, and left-hander Nick Martinez, who was acquired from the New York Yankees on April 2 and made only one appearance for Oklahoma City.
Persistent rain delayed the start of Saturday nights game against the San Diego Padres, the second rain delay in two weeks after the Dodgers had gone 15 years without a rain delay in Chavez Ravine. The game is scheduled to start at 8:25 p.m. PDT.
Short hops
Walker Buehler, whose rehabilitation start for Class-A Rancho Cucamonga was cut short when he took a comebacker off the right knuckle in the second inning Friday night, will make his next scheduled minor league start, probably for triple-A Oklahoma City, on Thursday, manager Dave Roberts said. But because Buehler threw only 27 pitches, he will likely need at least two more rehab starts to get his pitch count up to around 90, at which point he will become a candidate to rejoin the Dodgers rotation. Blake Treinen, who hasnt pitched since suffering a bruised lung when he was struck by a line drive in a March 9 exhibition game, threw in the bullpen Thursday and will begin facing hitters soon in preparation for a minor league rehab stint. But Roberts said the reliever is still a few weeks away from returning to the Dodgers bullpen.
Staff writer Jack Harris contributed to this report.
