Dodgers Injury Updates: Chris Taylor, Walker Buehler

A Major League season is a marathon and within it, many players feel their aches and pains. The Los Angeles Dodgers have been bitten by the injury bug continually, with the 25-man roster serving often as a game of musical chairs. In fact, you would be hard pressed to name a Dodgers regular who has not faced some type of health ailment in 2018. For example, Tony Cingrani is one of the latest who the team announced will miss significant time. While Chris Taylor and Walker Buehler have been dinged recently, positive updates were given in regards to their near-term status.

Chris Taylor

Taylor’s left hamstring tightened up on him in the sixth inning of Wednesday’s matinee at Wrigley Field. He was removed from the ballgame. Luckily, the team’s starting shortstop doesn’t sound like he will miss extended time.

Chris Taylor expects to play in #Mets series. Doesn’t anticipate his hamstring to force him to miss any of the games this weekend. #Dodgers

— . (@THEREAL_DV) June 20, 2018

Taylor is hitting .249 with eight home runs and 27 runs batted in this season. He’s added 46 runs scored to go with a rising .779 OPS after a slow start. That OPS has been steady – checking in at .843 in May and .842 so far in June. Taylor is one of the most important cogs for the Dodgers to keep upright for the remainder of the season.

Walker Buehler

At the present time, there is no definitive timetable for the rookie sensation’s return to action. It might seem a lot longer – but Buehler last pitched in a game June 8th against the Atlanta Braves. In that start, he left after 5 and 1/3 innings due to rib soreness. Buehler is slowly working his way back, and the latest update should be considered a positive.

Walker Buehler has a bullpen session scheduled for Saturday as he works back from a microfractured rib.

— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) June 18, 2018

Buehler will throw a bullpen session on Saturday at Citi Field in New York over the weekend. Following that, we should receive an update from the team on a possible rehab plan for Buehler. With the team getting the starting rotation healthy ever so slightly, there is no rush to push Buehler back into action. In addition, Buehler is on an innings-limit this season. This is a way for the team to ease his workload so that he still has some tread left on the tires down the stretch in August and September.

There was some positive non-injury Walker Buehler news recently. He leads the National League Rookie of the Year poll by a very wide margin over the Washington National’s Juan Soto according to MLB.com.