Dodgers Place Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Michael Grove On 15-Day Injured List

5:49PM: Further tests revealed Yamamoto has a strained rotator cuff, manager Dave Roberts told DiGiovanna and other reporters today.  No timeline was given, as Roberts indicated that the injury is “not season ending, but it’s going to be some time.”

2:15PM: The Dodgers announced this afternoon that they’ve placed right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the 15-day injured list with triceps tightness. The club also placed right-hander Michael Grove on the 15-day injured list due to lat tightness. In corresponding moves, the club has recalled right-hander J.P. Feyereisen and selected the contract of right-hander Michael Petersen. To make room for Petersen on the 40-man roster, the Dodgers transferred right-hander Joe Kelly to the 60-day injured list.

That Yamamoto is headed for the injured list is hardly a surprise, as manager David Roberts indicated last night that a trip to the IL was likely for the righty after he exited his start last night after just two innings. Yamamoto’s departure from the rotation won’t require the Dodgers to turn to a spot starter, as right-hander Bobby Miller was already slated to return from the injured list and retake a spot in the starting rotation on Wednesday. That will allow him to seamlessly slide into the starting five alongside Tyler Glasnow, James Paxton, Walker Buehler, and Gavin Stone while Yamamoto is on the shelf.

What remains unclear, however, is just how long Yamamoto will be out. Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times indicated earlier this afternoon that the Dodgers plan to send Yamamoto for further testing beyond what had already been scheduled for him in the aftermath of his start last night, and it’s possible the specifics of the right-hander’s injury as well as his timetable for return will remain uncertain until the results come back from those tests. Of course, an absence of any length for Yamamoto is a frustrating turn of events for the Dodgers. The club’s $325MM man has been more or less exactly as advertised this year, with a 2.41 ERA and a 28.5% strikeout rate across his past 12 starts.

As for Grove, Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register reports that his injury is expected to be a relatively short-term one. The right-hander has served in multi-inning relief for the Dodgers throughout the year to this point and has struggled in terms of results with a 5.06 ERA in 37 1/3 innings of work, although it’s worth noting that the righty sports a strong 28.7% strikeout rate and a 3.14 FIP that suggests some of his struggles could be due to a deflated 62.5% strand rate. Interestngly, Grove struggled badly at the very start of the year with an 11.74 ERA across his first four outings, and has again begun to struggle lately with a 9.00 ERA in his last three appearances. In 21 appearances between April 10 and June 7, however, the right-hander was dominant with a 2.45 ERA, and incredible 37.1% strikeout rate, and a 2.75 FIP in 25 2/3 innings of work. If a trip to the IL allows Grove to rediscover that form going forward, it would surely provide the Dodgers bullpen with a massive boost headed as the calendar flips to July.

Joining the roster in the duo’s place are Feyreisen and Petersen. Feyreisen rejoins the club after missing the entire 2023 season due to injury and struggling somewhat in his first games back this year, with a 6.00 ERA and 4.81 FIP in nine appearances. Those struggles have continued at the Triple-A level, where he’s posted a 7.47 ERA in 15 2/3 frames thanks in part to a deflated 16.7% strikeout rate and four home runs allowed in that time. There is some room for optimism regarding the 31-year-old, however; the righty looked excellent in his seven appearances with the Dodgers at the big league level during the month of May prior to his demotion, where he struck out 26.9% of batters faced in 7 1/3 scoreless frames. If Feyreisen can return to the form he showed in the majors last month, he could be an asset for the club alongside fellow middle relief arms Yohan Ramirez and Anthony Banda.

As for Petersen, the 30-year-old is in his first year as a member of the Dodgers organization and will make his MLB debut when he first gets into a game. The right-hander was selected in the late rounds of the 2012, ’13, and ’14 drafts before finally signing with the Brewers after being selected in the 17th round of the 2015 draft. He spent five years in the lower levels of the minors with Milwaukee before joining the Rockies prior to the 2020 campaign, although he didn’t pitch during the 2021 campaign and made just one appearance in 2022.

Petersen had his first full season since 2019 last year and pitched quite well between the Double- and Triple-A levels, with a combined 3.46 ERA in 41 2/3 innings of work with a 26.3% strikeout rate. That performance was enough to get Petersen a minor league deal with the Dodgers this past winter, and he continued to show solid results at the highest level of the minors during his time with the club at the Triple-A level. This year’s results were even better than the last, as he posted a sterling 1.61 ERA while striking out a whopping 36.9% of batters faced. Those exciting results were enough to get Petersen his first look at the big league level, where he’ll join Feyreisen in the middle of the L.A. bullpen.

As for Kelly, the move to the 60-day IL appears to be more or less procedural for the right-hander. He’s been on the injured list with a shoulder strain since the beginning of May and has not yet begun a rehab assignment, suggesting that the 36-year-old was already likely to spend at least the next couple of weeks on the shelf. He’ll now be eligible to be activated for the first time on July 5.