CHICAGO — Concussions don’t follow timelines.
When the Dodgers placed Will Smith on the injured list with a concussion last weekend, they were optimistic he would be ready to play again during their four-game visit to Wrigley Field. Smith traveled with the team to Chicago.
Since then, however, Smith has apparently had good days and bad, dealing with the lingering symptoms of his concussion. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts ruled out Smith returning to play during the series in Chicago and indicated Saturday that Smith might not play during the three-game series in Pittsburgh next week either.
“Today was a good day for Will. Today was a better day,” Roberts said Saturday. “He’ll pick up activity tomorrow. Yesterday we kind of kicked the can a little bit, he wasn’t having his best day. He’s going to do a little more stuff today in the weight room and swinging of the bat.”
Roberts said Smith was “not symptomatic” Saturday. But Smith has to string some days together without symptoms before he can progress beyond daily workouts. Roberts said there will likely be a discussion at some point regarding a minor-league injury-rehabilitation assignment for Smith, an opportunity to see if symptoms will return with exposure to game action.
“We’re obviously being very cautious,” Roberts said. “There’s gonna be a ramp-up, a focused kind of build-up, ramp-up that, until he does that and passes those tests, that he’s not going to be in a major-league game.”
If statistics are an accurate reflection, Smith’s presence has been dearly missed in the lineup. In Smith’s 10 starts this season, the Dodgers hit .248 as a team, averaged six runs per game and were 6-4. In the 11 games without Smith in the starting lineup through Friday, they hit .204, averaged 4.1 runs per game and went 4-7.
“We do (miss Smith),” Roberts acknowledged. “I think that if you’re talking about what we’ve talked about, consistency of at-bat, four times a game – he’s up there with Freddie (Freeman). So to lose that consistency, it’s been tough but it is what it is, I guess.
“You’re losing a guy that is your starting catcher, middle of the order at-bat, the relationship that he has with the pitchers. … So having Will not in the lineup, run prevention, run creation all that stuff is impacted.”
In his first five games against his former team, Cody Bellinger was 6 for 17 with at least one hit in each game, six runs scored and a home run in each of the three meetings before Saturday.
“He’s swinging really well,” Roberts said of Bellinger, who took a .301 batting average and .943 OPS into Saturday’s game. “I think one thing is he’s more physical. I think he’s getting his weight and strength where it should be. And I think mechanically he’s in a good spot.
“I know there’s a little extra incentive when he’s playing against us.”
The Dodgers recalled left-hander Victor Gonzalez from Triple-A Oklahoma City on Saturday and designated right-hander Jake Reed for assignment.
Gonzalez allowed one run in seven innings for OKC, striking out 12. When Gonzalez gets in a game it will be his first major-league appearance since August 2021. Gonzalez had elbow surgery in May 2022 and pitched just 12⅔ innings last season in the minors.
Reed made one appearance in this go-round with the Dodgers, allowing six runs in Friday’s 13-0 loss. It is the eighth time he has been designated for assignment since July 2021, the fourth time by the Dodgers.
Dodgers (LHP Clayton Kershaw, 3-1, 2.52 ERA) at Cubs (RHP Marcus Stroman, 2-1, 0.75 ERA), Sunday, 11:20 a.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM
