The injury bug continues to hit the Los Angeles Dodgers and Dalton Rushing.
The Los Angeles Dodgers' problems behind the dish are growing as the season unwinds to a crucial point.
After being a late scratch from Sunday's series closer against the Boston Red Sox with minor arm irritation, Dave Roberts told the media the severity of Rushing's injury following the Dodgers' fifth straight loss — calling it a slight tear in his left elbow.
Fast forward to Wednesday, and Roberts added to Rushing's injury, saying there is a "very small" chance that the 25-year-old backstop will be part of the Dodgers' catching tandem moving forward, according to Maddie Lee of the Los Angeles Times.
Still, Roberts and the Dodgers do not want to shut down Rushing entirely, hoping that they could keep him as a left-handed bench bat for the foreseeable future.
If that seems to be the case moving forward to the playoffs and beyond — pending the recovery of Will Smith — the Dodgers may pivot to adding additional bats come Postseason time, or just shut down Rushing altogether.
Even considering the steady recovery that Smith is undergoing at the moment for the inflamed disk in his neck, the Dodgers have no grace period to sit and wait.
"I hope I'm wrong, but he's a tough kid," Roberts said. "Certainly a possibility with the time, but we're certainly trying to keep the bat alive for sure."
It's not every day that an injury hits a starting catcher at a perfect time, but for the Dodgers, the timing couldn't have been better.
Once the Dodgers acquired two-time Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal late Saturday night — the weekend of the Trade Deadline — president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman was presumably done after having their heart set on his services and having no desire to add to the 40-man roster.
The uncertainty regarding Rushing's injury at the time forced the Dodgers and Friedman's hand to dip into the catchers market. Los Angeles was able to pull off two reunions as the last hour of the deadline dwindled, with the acquisition of Hunter Feduccia and Ben Rortvedt.
Rortvedt made his debut with his former club in Tuesday's loss to the Chicago Cubs and was thrown into the fire, paired with Skubal in battery for his respective debut.
Feduccia is slated to make his debut on Wednesday behind the plate catching for Eric Lauer, as the Dodgers look to avoid getting swept for the second consecutive start and their sixth straight loss overall.
