Cody Snavely
The Los Angeles Dodgers have wrapped up their short six-game road trip and will return home to Dodger Stadium to face the surprising Cleveland Guardians for a three-game series.
But before that, there is much to catch up on this Thursday, the Dodgers’ off day, as we got updates on Yamamoto, Knack, Glasnow, and much more.
Yamamoto to be activated; start Tuesday against Chicago Cubs
Prior to yesterday’s series finale in the short two-game series against the Los Angeles Angels, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts spoke to the media and announced that the Dodgers would be activating rookie right-handed pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto off the 60-day injured list and will start Tuesday on September 10th against the Chicago Cubs.
Yamamoto has been out since mid-June after suffering a strained rotator cuff injury after a diamond start against the New York Yankees, which was then removed prematurely in his next start against the Kansas City Royals.
As the injury progressed and the Dodgers were in a crunch, having to make a flurry of roster moves, the team had to transfer Yamamoto to the 60-day injured list to create space on the 40-man roster.
Currently, the Dodgers 40-man roster is full after the team readded right-handed pitcher Brent Honeywell back to the roster after being DFA’d by the club a few weeks back and clearing waivers.
When Yamamoto is activated, the Dodgers will have to make a move on the 26-man and 40-man roster, which will likely be another DFA for someone. The logical choices would be Honeywell or rookie right-handed pitcher Michael Peterson, but it remains to be seen what route the Dodgers will take.
The Dodgers are getting Yamamoto back at the perfect time, albeit with less than four weeks remaining for the 2024 Major League Baseball regular season, but should give him around three to four starts before the calendar turns to October.
Despite a shaky first start to begin his career in the Major Leagues, Yamamoto has turned in a tremendous first season in Dodger Blue, going 6-2 with a 2.92 ERA and 1.07 WHIP in fourteen games started.
Yamamoto made two rehab assignments, each with mixed results. In his first start for Triple-A OKC, the righty went two innings, allowing one run on a solo home run and collecting two strikeouts.
In his second start, Yamamoto was set to go three innings with another inning in the bullpen, but after a seventeen-pitch at-bat to minor leaguer Omar Narváez, which resulted in a walk, he ended his night after two innings of work.
However, the Dodgers must feel comfortable activating the rookie, but in reality, they have no choice. They are in a tight division race, and with Tyler Glasnow and Clayton Kershaw on the injured list, they need arms to help even the workload on the starting rotation.
The Return of the Knack
In the same pre-game media scrum, the Dodgers manager confirmed that the team would recall rookie right-handed pitcher Landon Knack would be recalled from Triple-A OKC to make a start on Friday, which would’ve been Kershaw’s turn in the rotation.
It is not the first time this season that Knack has been recalled for a spot start, and with Clayton Kershaw’s injury worse than the team originally thought, with the veteran lefty in a walking boot, it may not be the rookie starter’s last turn in the rotation.
It will be interesting to see what the Dodgers do to make room on the 26-man roster. With Bobby Miller‘s latest start being a dud, the team could opt to place him back on the injured list, allowing them to keep arms up in the bullpen, which has been overworked this entire road trip.
So far in the season, Knack has a 3.00 ERA and 1.00 WHIP, forty-four strikeouts in ten appearances (eight games started), and forty-eight pitched innings.
Knack is the only option on the 40-man who can be recalled and start as a left-handed starter. Justin Wrobelski must stay in Triple-A for fifteen days unless an injury occurs; however, after his most recent start was a disaster, I do not expect to see the rookie lefty again this season.
Glasnow progressing well; will throw bullpen this weekend
Offensively, the Los Angeles Dodgers have been the healthiest they have been all season, adding back all-star Mookie Betts, utilityman Tommy Edman, and third baseman Max Muncy off the injured list for the past four weeks.
However, the pitching department has been hit hard with injuries lately, and with the season winding down, the team needs these starters to return so that they can be built up for October.
One of these starters is right-handed pitcher Tyler Glasnow, who has been sidelined since late August with right elbow tendonitis.
Glasnow initially indicated that his arm was good enough to start the game against the St. Louis Cardinals and even pushed back the idea of being placed on the injured list entirely; however, the Dodgers opted to do so anyway.
Glasnow went days without throwing, prompting many members of the Dodgers media to ask whether the righty would be ready for October. Dave Roberts replied that the team was “hopeful” he’d be there.
Fast-forward to today and Glasnow has continued his throwing program and is trying to throw off the mound this weekend. If all goes well, the righty will likely need a rehab assignment due to the time he missed, but he could rejoin the Dodgers in the final three weeks of the regular season.
The Dodgers’ clock is playing against them in this one, as they are quickly running out of time to prepare these pitchers for the postseason dance, but Glasnow himself stated he was confident he would return during the regular season and be ready for October.
The Dodgers traded for Glasnow to be a frontline starter not only in the regular season but also in the postseason, and so far, he has delivered on all cylinders, pitching to a 3.49 ERA, 0.948 WHIP, and striking out 168 batters in a career-high 134 innings pitched.
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