Dodgers News: Dave Roberts Provides a Less Than Optimistic Update on Will Smith
Amid all the greatness of Clayton Kershaw getting career win number 200, there was a bit of an unfortunate update from Dodgers manager Dave Roberts involving catcher Will Smith, who is on the injured list with concussion symptoms.
The news: Will won't be ready as soon as the team originally hoped.
Speaking to reporters before Tuesday's game, here's what Doc had to say.
“Will’s getting better each day. We’re still a ways out for me -- he’s still got to catch bullpens, work up a sweat, get his heart rate up. Kind of go through the regular preparation for us to feel confident that he won’t have a setback. He’s days away at the minimum.”
Dave added Smith will be with the team on the road trip. “But Thursday is not going to happen.”
Smith, who caught up with reporters after his first full workout since going on the 7-day injured list, offered up his own view of where he's at.
“It’s going to be a progression so we’ll see. We’ll see how I recover after today. Coming in tomorrow after going through a full workout today. Just kind of day by day. … That’s my number one priority, to get back to 100 percent. I don’t want to rush this. … I think there are plenty of things that you can play through and deal with. But head stuff, concussion stuff is not one that anyone should mess with and I especially don’t want to mess with that.”
When healthy, Smith has been one of the better performing Dodgers at the plate. In 11 games, he's hitting .333 with 3 home runs and 12 RBI. His 1.058 OPS is behind only Atlanta's Sean Murphy for the best among catchers in baseball.
They really need him back... but when he's back, he needs to stay back.
