Yasmani Grandal Begins Rehab Assignment With Triple-A Oklahoma City

Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal suffered a concussion on Friday and was placed on the seven-day concussion disabled list.

Grandal went down with the injury after first being struck on the mask by San Diego Padres infielder Yangervis Solarte’s backswing. Trainer Stan Conte came out to check on the catcher, ushered him back to the dugout and continued to tend to the catcher.

Grandal remained in the game and took a Matt Kemp foul ball off his mask in the fourth. He batted for himself in the bottom of the inning but was removed when the fifth began. Just four days later, Grandal has began his rehab assignment with Triple-A Oklahoma City.

In his first rehab game, the 26 year old went 1-for-3 with three walks as the designated hitter. The team recently announced that the plan for Grandal is he’ll DH three games with Oklahoma City before returning to the Dodgers during the weekend.

Dodgers manager Don Mattingly explained the reasoning behind Grandal only DH-ing as a precaution, saying that the team does not want to risk him being hit in the head again while he’s on the seven-day concussion disabled list. Mattingly added that the longer Grandal can go without being struck on the head again the less likely he will have to deal with reoccurring concussions.

After a slow start to the season, Grandal got hot in the month of May, and he is currently batting .291 with four home runs and 17 RBIs on the season. The Dodgers haven’t missed him too much, as they’ve won three of the four games the catcher hasn’t played in heading into Wednesday’s series finale with the Atlanta Braves.

Grandal was ejected in the fifth inning of Wednesday’s game after striking out for the third time in as many at-bats.

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