{"id":646347,"date":"2026-05-16T08:14:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T08:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/646347\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T08:14:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T08:14:11","slug":"dodgers-blake-snell-returns-to-il-with-loose-bodies-in-his-left-elbow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/646347\/","title":{"rendered":"Dodgers’ Blake Snell returns to IL with loose bodies in his left elbow"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Less than a week after making his season debut<\/a>, Dodgers<\/a> pitcher Blake Snell<\/a> was put on the 15-day injured list Friday because of loose bodies in his left elbow.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers scratched him from what would have been his second start of the season Friday against the Angels and backdated the IL move to May 12. They pivoted to a bullpen game and recalled left-hander Charlie Barnes<\/a>, who was claimed off waivers from the Cubs last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still talking through what\u2019s next,\u201d manager Dave Roberts<\/a> said before the Dodgers\u2019 6-0 win at Angel Stadium<\/a>. \u201cAt the end of the day, we feel confident that he\u2019s going to be back with us this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roberts said Snell could have surgery or choose pain and inflammation management.<\/p>\n

Surgery, however, is the likely outcome, according to people with knowledge of the situation not authorized to speak publicly about the matter. It\u2019s unclear how invasive a potential surgical procedure would be \u2014 a significant factor in determining how much time Snell could miss. One person briefed on the matter projected Snell to return in late July or early August.<\/p>\n

The timelines vary widely for pitchers with similar injuries, dictated by factors including the number, size and location of the loose bodies \u2014 a term to describe bone chips or cartilage floating freely within joint fluid.<\/p>\n

Dodgers closer Edwin D\u00edaz<\/a>, who had five loose bodies removed from his elbow in late April, isn\u2019t expected to return until after the All-Star break.<\/p>\n

Tigers ace Tarik Skubal<\/a>, however, was playing catch a little over a week after undergoing a minimally invasive procedure to remove a bone chip from his elbow. <\/p>\n

Snell underwent a procedure in 2019 to remove loose bodies from his left elbow. He was on the IL for nearly two months. <\/p>\n

The injury flared while he played catch this week, according to Roberts.<\/p>\n

\"Dodgers <\/p>\n

Dodgers starting pitcher Blake Snell delivers against the Atlanta Braves on May 9 at Dodger Stadium.<\/p>\n

(Gina Ferazzi \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

\u201cJust felt something in the back of his elbow and just couldn\u2019t continue,\u201d Roberts said.<\/p>\n

Snell began the season on the injured list, after starting his season ramp-up late because of what the Dodgers described as left shoulder fatigue. He gave up four earned runs in three innings against the Braves last week.<\/p>\n

Snell became the second Dodgers starter to land on the injured list in the span of a week, joining Tyler Glasnow<\/a> (lower back spasms), dramatically thinning the Dodgers\u2019 starting pitching depth, which appeared to be a strength going into the season.<\/p>\n

The Dodgers initially hoped Glasnow would avoid an IL stint. But now he\u2019s projected to be out for longer than the 15-day minimum.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems like every year we go through it,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cWhat I have learned is we get through it. It doesn\u2019t feel great when you\u2019re in it. … In baseball it happens all the time with pitching. So here we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

As of Friday, Roberts didn\u2019t have a long-term plan for filling Snell\u2019s spot in the rotation. The Dodgers prefer a six-man rotation to manage their starters\u2019 workloads.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, I don\u2019t know if we have six candidates,\u201d Roberts said.<\/p>\n

Roberts said that calling up River Ryan<\/a> was a \u201cslim possibility,\u201d considering the right-hander\u2019s progression after an IL stint. Ryan was activated by triple-A affiliate Oklahoma City on Friday, and he gave up just one run and two hits in four innings.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re prepared to do whatever we can,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cBut I will say the most important thing is to keep the guys on their schedules, not try to push too much because of circumstances with the rotation because then you start to compromise their health. So whether we backfill somehow or do bullpen days, we\u2019re prepared to do whatever it takes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bullpen game against the Angels worked as well as the Dodgers could have hoped. They used eight relievers, each tossing an inning except for opener Will Klein, who covered two. They combined for a two-hit shutout. <\/p>\n

\u201cTonight was one of those nights that there was no other alternative,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to win as many games as we can, and you just hope that the guys that are starting can take a lot of outs, so they don\u2019t put more added stress on the \u2018pen.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Less than a week after making his season debut, Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell was put on the 15-day…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":646348,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[42124,2111,278877,8974,4279,2310,22074,142338,278876,2849,4281,22362,99,5751,52582,77351],"class_list":["post-646347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-angels","tag-atlanta-braves","tag-back-spasm","tag-blake-snell","tag-dodgers","tag-friday","tag-hit","tag-innings","tag-left-shoulder-fatigue","tag-list","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-snell","tag-sports","tag-start","tag-strikeout","tag-walk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=646347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/646348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}