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For several years now, the Los Angeles Dodgers have begun each season with a plethora of pitching. And each season, the Los Angeles Dodgers see a large portion of those pitchers go down one-by-one due to injury.
On Tuesday, highly-touted 23-year-old pitcher Roki Sasaki was placed on the injured list by the Dodgers because of right shoulder impingement. He now becomes the 14th pitcher Los Angeles currently has on the injured list.
The list of injured pitchers, as shared by Los Angeles Dodgers reporter Blake Harris, now contains…
• Tyler Glasnow
• Evan Phillips
• Roki Sasaki
• Blake Snell
• Brusdar Graterol
• Michael Grove
• Edgardo Henriquez
• Kyle Hurt
• Clayton Kershaw
• Michael Kopech
• River Ryan
• Emmet Sheehan
• Gavin Stone
• Blake Treinen
• Shohei Ohtani
That’s 15 pitchers, or more than an entire Major League Baseball pitching staff, on the Dodgers’ roster who can’t pitch. Kershaw is the closest to returning, having made a four inning rehab start for Triple-A Oklahoma City on Sunday.
Sasaki, Snell, Glasnow, and Phillips and are only on the 15-day injured list, but there is no timetable for Sasaki to return yet, Snell is still feeling shoulder discomfort, and Glasnow just started playing catch again. Evan Phillips, who is eligible to be activated on May 21, was just shut down again after a MRI revealed inflammation in his elbow.
The rest of the pitchers on the list, other than Ohtani, who may or may not ever pitch again, are on the 60-day injured list.
This run of pitcher injuries, as mentioned, is nothing new for Los Angeles. In 2023, Walker Buehler, Blake Treinen, J.P. Feyereisen, Alex Reyes, and Jimmy Nelson missed the entire season with injuries. Yency Almonte, Tyler Cyr, Phil Bickford, Tony Gonsolin, Michael Grove, Daniel Hudson, Joe Kelly, Clayton Kershaw, Dustin May, Shelby Miller, Ryan Pepiot, Noah Syndergaard, and Gus Varland all missed at least 16 games (many missed much more).
In 2024, Tony Gonsolin, Dustin May, and Emmet Sheehan missed the entire season, while Ryan Brasier, Connor Brodgon, Walker Buehler, Tyler Glasnow, Brusdar Graterol, Michael Grove, Kyle Hurt, Joe Kelly, Clayton Kershaw, Bobby Miller, Evan Phillips, River Ryan, Gavin Stone, Blake Treinen, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto all missed at least 22 games (again, many missed much more).
Needless to say, Dodgers fans, and baseball fans in general, would like to know why do so many of Dodgers pitchers end up on the injured list each year?
“The Dodgers should figure out why so many of their pitchers and players are injury prone?! It’s concerning,” one fan wrote on X (Twitter).
“Idk why pitchers go to the Dodgers. Clearly they’re doing something wrong cause every year multiple pitchers go down,” another fan commented.
“Unbelievable and unsustainable. Other teams have substantial pitchers on the IL, but not like this team,” wrote another fan. “Something’s obviously not right with conditioning for this team’s pitchers, both the young and the elders.”
“Someone needs to look at the Dodgers player development program for pitchers. Way too many injuries,” read another comment, echoing many others.
“Has anyone investigated why the Dodgers have more pitchers on the IL than any other team?” someone else asked. “Could it be the pitching coach, Mark Prior or possibly Dave Roberts? Looks to me like a systemic problem. Best pitching staff money can buy is the walking wounded.”