Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Will Smith will be sidelined with a neck injury for longer than initially anticipated.
Smith, who’s on the injured list and eligible to be activated on Friday, is “unlikely” to return to action at that point, manager Dave Roberts said, as reported by Katie Woo of The Athletic.
MLB.com reporter Sonja Chen detailed that Smith is still experiencing neck discomfort, and Roberts said the team wants to “get him to a place where we don’t regress once he comes back.”
No timeline for Smith’s return was provided.
How did Will Smith hurt his neck?
Smith described his injury as an “inflamed disc,” as reported by the Orange County Register‘s Bill Plunkett, and the pain started during the series against the Arizona Diamondbacks at the beginning of this month.
Before that disclosure, Roberts indicated Smith’s injury “came out of nowhere.”
“I had him in there today and then talked to [trainer] Thomas Albert and he said that Will’s kind of grinding through a neck situation. … I think a bad night’s sleep or a bad pillow. Not sure,” he said.
Despite playing through the pain for a few games, Smith was ultimately scratched from the lineup.
After backup catcher Dalton Rushing stepped in for a few games, the Dodgers called up Chuckie Robinson.
What does Will Smith’s injury mean for the Dodgers?
With Smith sidelined, Rushing will continue to get the bulk of playing time behind the plate, and Robinson will stay up on the major league roster.
While Rushing has already found his way into the lineup and onto the field this season, Robinson has only played a few dozen big league games in his career, making this time in MLB of utmost importance to him.
Dodgers Nation’s Nelson Espinal explained that Robinson has the defensive skills to succeed at the highest level, but he’ll have to improve his offensive performance.
“Robinson is someone that the Dodgers trust to do a serviceable job behind the plate and carries a degree of reliability,” he wrote. “His bat has not been great in the majors, hitting just .131 in 130 at-bats, but the defensive work should hold down the fort.”
