The stage was set Friday for the next major step in Tyler Glasnow’s recovery from an elbow injury.
Several hours before the Dodgers opened a four-game series against the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park, the team’s injured right-handed ace took the field to begin warming up for a scheduled simulated game — one that would have marked his first time facing batters since going on the injured list last month because of tendinitis.
Manager Dave Roberts, pitching coach Mark Prior and other members of the training staff and front office were observing the $136.5-million offseason acquisition warm up with throws from the outfield and pitches off the bullpen mound.
Several hitters were ready for the session too, sitting in the dugout with bats in hand and helmets on head.
But then, right when the two-inning exercise was supposed to begin, the course of Glasnow’s recovery process suddenly changed.
The pitcher emerged from the bullpen and walked not to the mound, but back to the clubhouse instead.
According to Roberts, Glasnow informed the team he still was feeling “discomfort” in his arm after roughly 20 warmup pitches, scuttling any plans of his highly anticipated live session.
“He didn’t really describe anything,” Prior added. “He just said it wasn’t good. It didn’t feel like he should take it out there.”
Indeed, rather than crossing an important box off his rehab to-do list, Glasnow suffered a concerning “setback,” as Roberts put it, only intensifying the questions surrounding Glasnow’s late-season status and availability for a potential postseason role.
“By not throwing today, yeah, that’s a concern and a red flag,” Prior said. “We’ll see where we’re at tomorrow and have more information. Maybe it’s a hiccup and we can continue. But there’s also a chance that it might not be. And that obviously would be devastating.”
Glasnow has been on the injured list since Aug. 16 with his second injury of the season — he also missed time in July because of a back injury) — and the 31-year-old All-Star is racing the calendar to return before the end of the regular season.
Last month he suffered a weeklong delay after feeling discomfort while ramping up in catch play. And though he appeared to be trending up after two encouraging bullpen sessions, Friday’s development will leave his already-small window to return dangerously close to being slammed shut.
“I don’t know if we have margins anymore,” Prior said. “It’s unfortunate.”
When healthy, Glasnow has largely lived up to the expectations he arrived with this winter when he was acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays and signed to a five-year contract extension. In 22 starts, he has a 9-6 record and 3.49 ERA. His 168 strikeouts remain most on the team by a wide margin. His 134 innings represented a career-high too, after having many of his first eight seasons derailed by injuries.
After returning from the back injury shortly after the All-Star break, however, Glasnow struggled to replicate his early consistency. Then, following a seven-inning outing against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Aug. 11, Glasnow landed on the IL on Aug. 16 with his elbow injury, expected to be sidelined for only a couple of weeks.
Instead, nearly a month later, Glasnow’s chances of returning for the start of a potential playoff run remain uncertain — if increasingly thin. Roberts said the club would “reassess” Glasnow in the coming days. He could get more tests to see if the severity of his injury has worsened.
But it already was clear that Glasnow could ill afford any more setbacks if he wanted to return before the end of the regular season and be anywhere close to fully built up.
Now?
“It’s certainly not helpful and positive,” Roberts said. “Again, we’ll see how he comes in tomorrow. [The possibility of him returning is] certainly not dead. Just today, I thought we made the right decision. If he didn’t feel well enough to continue, there was no sense in pushing it today.”