Notes: Injury updates, Price’s donation, new experimental rules
by Rowan Kavner
Dave Roberts took some fly balls in center field before Wednesday’s game, but the Dodgers aren’t so shorthanded that they’ll require the manager’s efforts at the position against the Rockies.
With Cody Bellinger still out and Mookie Betts back, Betts will shift from right field to center field for the start. Zach McKinstry will play in right field, while Matt Beaty will get his first start of the year in left field. It will be Betts’ second start in center field this year, and it comes in his second game back from back stiffness.
There is still no timetable for Bellinger’s return from a left calf contusion, but Roberts said he will be on the Dodgers’ next road trip and ideally activated sometime during the trip.
“He’s doing a lot of work down below with the trainers and the strength guys,” Roberts said. “Yesterday he did some running, some swinging. There’s some swelling — it’s healing as far as the discoloration of the leg — but right now he’s just not there where he can go full bore.”
The Dodgers received more positive news on pitchers Brusdar Graterol and Joe Kelly, who began the season on the injured list. Both pitchers threw yesterday, and Graterol will pitch again Thursday. If that goes well, the right-hander could join the Dodgers on the taxi squad in San Diego.
Roberts said Graterol and Kelly have been pitching to opposing hitters in games at the team’s alternate site. The team expects to know more about Graterol’s potential activation after he pitches Thursday, while Kelly is a couple weeks behind Graterol.
Tony Gonsolin (shoulder) has yet to throw a bullpen session in his recovery.
There are no plans for Roberts to get into action any time soon.
“I had fun out there,” Roberts said. “Just to have a laugh with the guys, it was a good time.”
Price to donate Jackie Robinson game day salary
During the home opener, David Price announced he was auctioning his World Series ring to support The Players Alliance. His support continued Wednesday.
Price is among more than 100 Major League players who have pledged to donate either their full or partial game-day salary on Jackie Robinson Day to The Players Alliance, a non-profit organization founded by a group of active and former MLB players seeking to improve representation of Black Americans in the sport.
The group plans to honor Robinson’s life and legacy by launching a Breaking Barriers campaign, including a commitment to support the Jackie Robinson Foundation.
Last year, The Players Alliance raised more than $1 million on Jackie Robinson Day. The organization invested the funds directly into Black communities across the country. Funds raised this year will directly benefit the Alliance’s 2021 Gear for Good equipment distribution program.
Experimental rules coming to Atlantic League
Major League Baseball announced new experimental playing rules coming to the independent Atlantic League.
The league will push back the pitching rubber one foot and add a “double-hook” rule in which teams will lose their designated hitter once their starting pitcher is replaced.
The double hook rule will last the full season and represents a compromise between the National League and American League rules. The rule was made to incentivize teams to leave their starting pitchers in longer. MLB cited that nearly 90 percent of starts last season lasted fewer than seven innings.
The pitching rubber rule will go into effect the second half of the season and was made to give batters more time to react to pitches, encouraging more balls in play and action in the game. The experimental rule changes are part of a three-year agreement between MLB and the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. Other experimental rule changes that were first implemented in the Atlantic League have since transitioned to the minors or Majors, including the three-batter minimum.
Roberts said he understands both rule changes, though he wondered if a foot difference might be aggressive. He was all for the double hook rule.
“I love that,” Roberts said. “As a baseball fanatic and a student of the game, that adds a different element of strategy especially in my chair as far as when you’re going to pull the starter to lose the DH.”
