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Dodgers News: Mattingly Discusses Severity Of Grandal’s Concussion



With Yasmani Grandal getting placed on the seven-day concussion disabled list Saturday the Los Angeles Dodgers are now without three full-time position players. There’s also the losses of Brandon McCarthy and Hyun-Jin Ryu to their respective season-ending surgeries.

As such, the season wears on for the Dodgers, who are fighting off the red-hot San Francisco Giants for first place in the National League West. While the Dodgers opted to place Grandal on the DL, manager Don Mattingly indicated the situation isn’t believed serious.

“He’s doing OK,” Mattingly said Saturday. “They tested him this morning and they feel like he has a mild concussion. Stan [Conte] described it as a tweener as far as he feels like in couple of days he’ll be totally fine and ready.”

Grandal was struck twice (third and fourth innings) on the mask in Friday’s game and continued playing each time. However, after batting in the bottom of the fourth, he was replaced by A.J. Ellis to start the fifth.

Grandal passed a concussion test after the first incident, but wasn’t tested a second time Friday night. Although the Dodgers will be without a key bat in the heart of their lineup for the next six games, the catcher’s health understandably takes precedent.

“We wanted to err on the side of caution and make sure we take care of him,” Mattingly said. The danger of a concussion certainly isn’t lost on Mattingly, who played in an era when the understanding of such injury wasn’t nearly as advanced.

“The one guy I think about is Mike Matheny. It took him a long time to get back to being himself,” Mattingly said when discussing the lingering effects concussions can have if not treated properly. Mattingly provided a positive update on Grandal prior to Sunday’s game and said the expectation is the catcher will play in Minor League games before being activated from the DL.

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