PITTSBURGH — Dodgers catcher Will Smith described the lead up to landing on the 10-day injured list Thursday as, “a long few days.”
He was diagnosed with an inflamed disk, he said, the root of the pain on the right side of his neck. But when Smith initially woke up with a stiff neck last week in Arizona, he expected it to resolve in a day or two.
He played through it for a couple games in Arizona and the first game against the Angels on Friday, before he was scratched from the lineup the next day.
“That third or fourth day, I felt it was just getting a lot worse,” Smith said.
With rest, he has improved. But Smith still feels tightness through his right trapezius, when he turns his head. While in Pittsburgh this week, he’s gone through a slate of baseball activities — hitting, throwing, running.
“It’s pretty close,” Smith said. “So, hopefully, the day I’m able to come off, I can come back and play, that’s the plan for now.”
The Dodgers backdated the IL move to Monday, so Smith will be eligible to return June 19, when the Dodgers open a three-game home series against the Orioles. In a corresponding move, the team selected the contract of catcher Chuckie Robinson from triple-A Oklahoma City.
“It was just not wanting it to go in reverse,” manager Dave Roberts said. “It’s certainly probably playable if we needed [it]. But at what cost? Right now, I just don’t think it’s smart to run Will out there just because he’s Will Smith and he’ll do it. We’ve got to take care of his health for this year. So I don’t think it’s a serious thing, but I do think that us taking care of it right now on the front end will pay benefits.”
Roberts plans to start Robinson behind the plate Friday, catching right-hander Roki Sasaki and giving Dalton Rushing a break after serving as the backstop for five straight games. Rushing is scheduled to catch Saturday, Sunday and Monday, before Robinson chips in again Tuesday.
Robinson has some familiarity with the Dodgers’ pitching staff after spending much of last season in the organization, including one major-league appearance, and joining major-league camp this spring as a non-roster invitee.
“The only person I really feel convicted on is having Rushing with Shohei [Ohtani],” Roberts said. “Just because he’s been around Shohei more. Shohei’s pitching is kind of more nuanced. Everyone else, I feel pretty comfortable with Chuckie.”
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