Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts advised reporters (together with Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic) at present that catcher Will Smith had undergone extra scans following his placement on the injured record final week, and that testing revealed a hairline fracture in Smith’s injured hand. The information makes it “uncertain,” in Roberts’s phrases, that he’ll play once more throughout the common season this 12 months. Extra regarding is that whether or not or not Smith might be out there for the beginning of the playoffs stays “up within the air.”
Smith, who made his third All-Star recreation earlier this 12 months, loved a profession season with the Dodgers this 12 months as he hit .296/404/.497 with a 152 wRC+ in 110 video games. He swatted 17 homers and paired a good 20.4% strikeout fee with an elite 14.7% stroll fee to emerge as one of many league’s prime on-base threats, and between his spectacular offense and stable protection behind the plate put collectively 4.1 fWAR in simply 436 journeys to the plate.
Arguably the most effective right-handed hitter within the Dodgers’ lineup this 12 months due to Mookie Betts’s robust first half this 12 months, dropping Smith for any a part of the postseason can be a crushing blow for the Dodgers. Since his first full 162-game season in 2021, Smith has averaged 126 video games performed a 12 months and is a fixture of the L.A. lineup with extra innings caught over the previous 5 years than anybody apart from J.T. Realmuto. Smith’s mixture of sturdiness and excellence allowed the Dodgers to not fear a lot concerning the high quality of their catching depth this 12 months, a lot in order that they even designated longtime backup Austin Barnes for task again in Could to make room on the roster for unproven teen Dalton Dashing.
Dashing has not taken to the large leagues in his part-time position, and has slashed simply .184/.246/.288 with a wRC+ of 49 and a 39.1% strikeout fee throughout 47 video games within the majors. Dashing’s mixture of lackluster offense and unimpressive protection behind the plate have seemingly left the Dodgers with out a lot confidence in his means to deal with the soar from little-used backup to potential playoff starter, and on account of that Roberts indicated at present that Ben Rortvedt as an alternative be tasked with serving because the Dodgers’ main catcher whereas Smith is out of fee.
Simply 5 days shy from his twenty eighth birthday, Rortvedt turned in a decent sufficient season with the Rays final 12 months however this 12 months has hit simply .165/.250/.196 in 39 video games between L.A. and Tampa. It’s a efficiency that gives just about no cause for optimism about his means to contribute offensively, however Rortvedt is a really well-regarded recreation caller who will get stable marks from superior metrics for his glove behind the plate. That stable protection ought to assist create the next flooring than Dashing may present for a Dodgers crew that might want to depend on a bullpen that has appeared shaky in current weeks to protect any leads handed to them by an elite beginning rotation. With that mentioned, it might in fact be preferable if Smith’s bat may take some strain off Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman to hold the offense headed into the playoffs.
