Dodgers Reliever Kirby Yates Likely Headed to IL, According to Manager Dave Roberts
Stop if you’ve heard this before — but the Dodgers appear to have another injury to their beleaguered pitching staff.
Veteran right-handed reliever Kirby Yates had to leave the game Saturday evening in the 11-9 loss versus the Los Angeles Angels due to injury. It was later revealed that the 38-year-old injured his hamstring.
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In the postgame media scrum, manager Dave Roberts intimated what many feared — that Yates likely will be headed to the injured list with what doctors are calling a Grade 1 hamstring. Further testing to see the severity of the injury will occur on Sunday.
“The assessment early is a grade 1 hamstring,” Roberts said. “I don’t see how it’s not an IL. We’ll see how he comes in tomorrow, but I could see it as an IL. No imaging yet. I think that’s tomorrow.”
Yates only made it through a third of an inning versus the Halos. He allowed three hits and three earned runs courtesy of a monster home run by catcher Logan O’Hoppe. Yates now has a 4.34 ERA on the season — a far cry from the 1.17 ERA he put up last year.
The musical chairs of relievers will inevitably continue yet again. It’s astounding to see the amount of bodies shuttled in and out of the roster given the Dodgers’ standing as the top team in the National League West.
If Yates does indeed get sidelined, he will be the 14th pitcher on the IL for LA. It’s truly become an epidemic at this point. The Dodgers do have a reputation for taking chances on injury-prone players with the hopes that the talent will overcome injury histories.
At the same time, one has to wonder if there’s some sort of training issue leading to these injuries — or if it’s simply the current era of baseball where the unprecedented velocity and torque combination across the board is leading to a far higher rate of IL stints.
The Dodgers have essentially built themselves for these moments. All of the hard work the scouting staff has done in stockpiling arms is exactly for times like these when spot-starts or innings-eaters are required. This also includes the signing of free agent arms and the requisite development in the minor leagues.
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Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
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