{"id":123637,"date":"2026-06-10T20:32:52","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T00:32:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=123637"},"modified":"2026-06-10T20:36:46","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T00:36:46","slug":"dodgers-all-star-catcher-seems-headed-to-the-il","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/06\/10\/dodgers-all-star-catcher-seems-headed-to-the-il\/","title":{"rendered":"Dodgers All-Star Catcher Seems Headed to the IL"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Los Angeles Dodgers are dealing with another injury. This time, it&#8217;s catcher <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/smithwi05.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Will Smith<\/a>. The All-Star catcher has been dealing with a neck issue that has sidelined him for the last two series. Manager Dave Roberts said that Smith will &#8220;most likely&#8221; go on the Injured List, according to Jack Harris of The California Post. The official move won&#8217;t be made until tomorrow, as Los Angeles is still deciding who to promote from the minors.<\/p>\n<h2>Dodgers All-Star Catcher Seems Headed to the IL<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/03\/660490454ac323.13612013.jpeg?w=2560&amp;h=1440&amp;crop=1\" alt=\"Will Smith Los Angeles Dodgers Wallpapers - Wallpaper Cave\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Dave Roberts said it\u2019s \u201cmost likely\u201d Will Smith will go on the IL \u2014 though that move probably won\u2019t officially come until tomorrow.<\/p>\n<p>He said Smith is \u201cprogressing,\u201d but has missed enough time by now that he\u2019ll need a little bit of a ramp-up period before playing again anyway <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/IC8kXIBVyK\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/IC8kXIBVyK<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Jack Harris (@ByJackHarris) <a  href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ByJackHarris\/status\/2064810095058239539?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 10, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Forced from The 40-man Roster<\/h3>\n<p>In anticipation of the move to come, the Dodgers released journeyman infielder <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/f\/fitzgty01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tyler Fitzgerald<\/a> to make room on the 40-man roster for whoever the Dodgers choose to call up. \u00a0Ironically, Fitzgerald was just recognized by the Pacific Coast League for his outstanding play until he was forced to the injured list himself. Not normally known for his bat, the utility man had a .280 batting average with an OPS of .998. It looks like letting Fitzgerald go was one of necessity and a numbers crunch, rather than performance.<\/p>\n<h3>Filling In<\/h3>\n<p>As for Smith, the stiff neck he experienced was considered temporary and not a long-term concern. The backstop is currently hitting for a .249 average with six home runs and 23 runs batted in. This line is slightly down from his career average. However, it&#8217;s hard to tell if the dip in production at the plate is due to the injury or a mechanical flaw. Whatever the case, Dave Roberts said Smith is improving but will still need time to &#8220;ramp up&#8221; before he returns to the lineup. <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/r\/robinch04.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chuckie Robinson<\/a>\u00a0or <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/a\/alfonel01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Eli\u00e9zer Alfonzo<\/a>\u00a0may be called up soon to back up <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/r\/rushida01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dalton Rushing<\/a>. Robinson caught nine innings today for Triple-A Oklahoma City.<\/p>\n<h3>Piling Up<\/h3>\n<p>Smith is the latest in a recent rash of injuries for Los Angeles. Teoscar will miss a month with a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/05\/28\/dodgers-calling-up-top-prospect-to-replace-veteran-outfielder\/\" target=\"_self\">strained left hamstring<\/a>. Super utility man <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hernaen02.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kik\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez<\/a>\u00a0will be sidelined longer with a<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/05\/27\/dodgers-injury-bug-hernandez\/\" target=\"_self\"> torn oblique<\/a>. Not to mention, right-handed pitcher <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/g\/glasnty01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tyler Glasnow<\/a>\u00a0is still out with <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/05\/14\/dodgers-tyler-glasnow-out-longer-than-expected\/\" target=\"_self\">an ailing back.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>It looks like the Dodgers have had their depth tested early and often this year, as they look for the next man up.<\/p>\n<p><span>Main Photo Credits: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Los Angeles Dodgers are dealing with another injury. This time, it&#8217;s catcher Will Smith. The All-Star catcher has been dealing with a neck issue that has sidelined him for the last two series. Manager Dave Roberts said that Smith will &#8220;most likely&#8221; go on the Injured List, according to Jack Harris of The California [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5226,"featured_media":123663,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33,1071],"tags":[305],"class_list":["post-123637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dodgers","category-mlb","tag-will-smith"],"modified_by":"Evan Mazza, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5226"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123637"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123637\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":123668,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123637\/revisions\/123668"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}