Injured Rookie Michael Grove With Dodgers in St. Louis, Next Move TBD
The state of the Dodgers bullpen isn’t great at the moment but is improving. Tony Gonsolin gave the team 5 innings on Friday night, the most from a starting pitcher in what feels like months (it’s been just days), but that still meant the bullpen still was forced to cover four innings in the win over the Cardinals. Four pitchers were pressed into action, covering one inning each.
With how things have gone for the club of late, precautions were taken heading out on the longest road trip of the season so far. The Dodgers called on rookie right-hander Michael Grove to travel with the team on the taxi squad despite him still being on the injured list and ramping up from missing the last month with a groin injury.
“Michael is here, just to taxi,” Roberts said. “He’s still kind of getting out of the woods with the bullpen. … Michael Grove is here just if something happens tonight that if we need to activate him.”
“Michael is a pro. It’s a quick ramp-up as far as him being here. He threw a bullpen, I think, Wednesday. He’s here obviously for coverage, but it will be good for him to get back on some type of regular schedule.”
Via SNLA
Considering Roberts was able to avoid a few key arms in the bullpen on Friday night (Evan Phillips, Victor Gonzalez), and no one being overextended in terms of their pitch count, Grove should be able to continue his ramp up to a starter’s pitch count and hopefully head out on a proper minor league rehab assignment in the next few days to a week. The loss of Dustin May earlier this week has certainly accelerated the timeline for the Dodgers and Grove, even if the plan is to run with Gavin Stone in May’s place for now.
