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The Los Angeles Dodgers have placed left-handed starter Blake Snell on the 15-day injured list with shoulder inflammation, the team announced Sunday. The move was made retroactive to April 3. To take Snell’s spot on the active roster, the Dodgers have recalled right-hander Matt Sauer. 

Snell, 32, has made a pair of starts for the reigning-champion Dodgers this season. In those combined nine innings of work, he’s put up an ERA of 2.00. However, he’s also permitted five unearned runs, walked eight batters against four strikeouts, and thrown two wild pitches. The Dodgers signed the two-time Cy Young winner this past offseason to a five-year, $182 million free-agent contract that also includes a team option for 2030. He’s coming off a 2024 season for the San Francisco Giants in which he had a 125 ERA+ and an FIP of 2.43 in 20 starts. 

Snell in the past has dealt with shoulder and elbow issues in addition to suffering soft-tissue injuries to his upper and lower body. Just twice in 10 MLB seasons has Snell managed to log a qualifying number of innings in a season. 

The Dodgers have injury concerns throughout the rotation, but the rotation is still a deep one. Many of those arms, however, are alongside Snell on the IL, which explains why the Dodgers may have to go off-script for a bit. As Eric Stephen writes on BlueSky: 

“One of Tuesday or Wednesday might end up being a bullpen game for the Dodgers, but Justin Wrobleski pitched 5 ⅔ scoreless innings last Wednesday for Oklahoma City and Landon Knack pitched 4 ⅔ innings Thursday. Both would line up nicely if needed.”

The Dodgers are accustomed to such challenging straits, as they navigated the entire 2024 postseason – all the way to winning the World Series – with just three healthy starting pitchers. 

As for the 2025 Dodgers, they enter Sunday’s slate of games with an MLB-best 9-1 record on the young season.