Dodgers Team News

Dodgers Injury News: 2 Pitching Prospects Undergo Tommy John Surgery

When the Dodgers (and every other team) hit last week’s deadline to put Rule 5 draft-eligible players on the 40-man roster to protect them, there was talk that L.A. might protect young pitcher Carlos Duran. They ultimately didn’t, and we might have an idea why now, as Baseball America’s Kyle Glaser reports.

Duran and fellow righty Edgardo Henriquez both recently underwent Tommy John surgery. Henriquez suffered his injury on August 9 in the second inning of a game against the Lake Elsinore Storm. Duran’s last outing of the season came on September 6, but it’s unclear when or how the injury occurred.

Unfortunately, as Glaser further clarifies, Duran’s surgery doesn’t mean the Dodgers are safe from having him plucked away in the Rule 5 draft.

If a team were to take Duran in the Rule 5, they would have to immediately add him to their 40-man roster. Once spring training starts, they could transfer him to the 60-day injured list to free up a spot on the 40-man, but it would impede their ability to make additions this offseason. Still, a team could take Duran and add him to their roster, and worst-case scenario they have to send him back to the Dodgers if they end up needing the roster spot.

Duran is 21 years old and posted a 4.25 ERA at High-A in 2022, so it’s no guarantee any team will be willing to commit a roster spot to him even with the 60-day IL available during the season, but it seems more likely that he’ll be drafted now than it was when we thought a team would have to actually keep him in the majors if they took him.

Henriquez isn’t eligible for the Rule 5, so the only consideration on him is getting him healthy and back on the mound. The 20-year-old posted a 4.54 ERA in Low-A in 2022.

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Jeff Snider

Jeff was born into a Dodgers family in Southern California and is now raising a Dodgers family of his own in Utah. During his previous career as an executive at a technology company, he began writing about baseball in his spare time. After leaving corporate America in 2014, he started doing it professionally. Jeff wrote and edited for Baseball Essential for years before joining Dodgers Nation. He's also the co-host of the Locked On Dodgers podcast, a daily podcast that brings the smart fan's perspective on our Boys in Blue. Jeff has a degree in English from Brigham Young University. Favorite Player: Clayton Kershaw Favorite Moment: Kirk Gibson's homer will always have a place, but Kershaw's homer on Opening Day 2013 might be the winner.

One Comment

  1. I have followed a few teams in my day and have never seen the number of ucl surgeries in one organization before. I guess that is the price of giving their projects the special velocity training.

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