Dodgers Prospects: Dave Roberts Still Not Sure When Josiah Gray Will Be Ready

In a best-laid plan of mice and men situation, the Dodgers had big plans on the drawing board for right-handed pitching prospect Josiah Gray in 2021. Unfortunately, a shoulder impingement has kept Jojo on the sidelines for most of the season so far.

Last update we had on the top prospect was that he was playing catch but not throwing off a mound yet. On Friday, Triple-A Oklahoma City broadcaster Alex Freedman dropped a video of Gray throwing live batting practice against his teammates.

Now this is a welcome sight to see.

Josiah Gray currently throwing live BP. #Dodgers pic.twitter.com/XgipebHxui

— Alex Freedman (@azfreedman) June 25, 2021

After the video hit on Twitter, Dodger manager Dave Roberts still let it be known that Jojo is a good ways away from getting into game action.

I knew that he threw that live BP. But as far as the progression, building him up and what that entails — how long — right now I just don’t know.

There’s plenty of big league season left for Gray to still make an impact in the rotation with LA. And that’s something the Dodgers are counting on. Among other notes on Friday, Roberts confirmed that the club has no plans on moving either David Price or Jimmy Nelson into the starting rotation this season. With that, the current starting staff would continue to shoulder a heavy load made heavier coming off a shortened 60 game season.

Related Dodgers Still Do Not Plan to Stretch Out Jimmy Nelson or David Price to Start Games

MLB’s trade deadline is set for Friday, July 30th this year and undoubtedly the wheels are spinning for LA’s man in charge, Andrew Friedman. What puts the Dodgers in a potentially more precarious spot is that there isn’t a clear need for a top of the rotation type of arm as there has been in years past. Instead, the team would benefit from a quality innings eater that could perform well out of the bullpen into October.

Julio Urias is approaching a career-high in innings pitched and it’s only June. Walker Buehler is halfway to his career high in innings as well. But those innings eaters still come with a high asking price in today’s game.

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