Slumping Edwin Rios is latest Dodger to go on Injured List

Hitless for the past three weeks, Edwin Rios’ swing will have some time to heal along with his shoulder.

The Dodgers placed Rios on the Injured List on Wednesday with right shoulder inflammation. He becomes the 11th Dodger on the IL. None might have needed the downtime more than Rios.

“I think that just to get away from this hot box and not have to see what the scoreboard says and hear about things, just to take a breath – I think it’ll be good for him, mentally, physically, emotionally. Just to get a reset,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “So No. 1, we’ve got to get him back healthy and then get him swinging free and easy and get that shoulder, healthy. Whatever that means, I think that we’ll know more in the coming days, and then once he gets back it would just give him a much better chance for success.”

Over 60 games in 2019 and 2020, Rios became an appealing bench player because of his power and defensive improvements he had made. He had 12 home runs in just 123 at-bats over those two seasons.

But this year, he has just one extra-base hit – a home run in Oakland on April 6 – and was 0 for his last 31, striking out 10 times in his last 19 at-bats.

Roberts said he thought Rios’ shoulder issue had become a problem “over time” and was “impeding his swing,” feeding into his slump.

“I think that, as I talked to Edwin and kind of got more color on it, I think that had a big part to it,” Roberts said. “He’s not an excuse maker and so he’ll never use it as an excuse. But I certainly believe that the shoulder affected performance, largely yeah.”

Right-hander Edwin Uceta was added back to the active roster, taking Rios’ roster spot. Uceta made his major-league debut on Friday in Milwaukee, allowing two runs on four hits and a walk in two innings against the Brewers.

TARGET SHOPPING

Along with the rings and championship banner, teams that win the World Series get something else the following year – a target on their backs as other teams gear up for series against them, measuring their own standing by how they do against the defending champs. Roberts said he has seen this in the Dodgers’ opponents over the first five weeks of the season.

“Absolutely, absolutely. And, that’s what we had expected,” Roberts said. “But, until you’re there, you don’t really know what it’s like. We’ve always had a target as far as being the Dodgers. But when you’re reigning World Champs teams certainly get up to play like every game is Game 7.

“I think that we’ve seen it with how managers have deployed bullpens and the intensity that teams have shown playing us. It’s up to us to match that. And I know we will.”

INJURY UPDATES

Right-hander Brusdar Graterol will travel back to California with the Dodgers then head to Arizona to continue his rehab from right forearm soreness. Graterol has not pitched since April 26. An MRI showed no structural damage but Graterol has not been cleared to resume a throwing program.

“(He has to) pass the strength test. The soreness has to be out. And then he starts his throwing progression,” Roberts said. “Right now for me, it’s not something that’s close enough where I need to monitor it on the day-to-day. But, my hope is that you’ll get back to health at some point time soon.”

The minor-league season has begun. But Roberts indicated none of the group of injured players at the Dodgers’ camp at Camelback Ranch are preparing to go out on an injury rehabilitation assignment.

Left-hander David Price (hamstring) has begun throwing off a mound. He has been sidelined since April 25 in what has been gauged as a four- to six-week process.

Outfielder/first baseman Cody Bellinger (leg fracture) and infielder/outfielder Zach McKinstry (oblique strain) will go on rehab assignments eventually. But neither has resumed full activities yet.

UP NEXT

Dodgers (LHP Julio Urias, 4-0, 2.87 ERA) at Angels (TBA), Friday, 6:38 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM