Justin Wrobleski, the Dodgers’ All-Star pitcher, is officially headed to the 15-day injured list with left forearm inflammation. The announcement dropped Sunday, a tough blow for a guy in the middle of a massive breakout campaign, and coming just a day after his last start on Saturday. Details on his injury and a return timeline aren’t clear yet, which never feels good.
The Breakout Crashes Hard
Wrobleski, only 26 and in his third MLB season, had exploded onto the scene this year. After primarily working as a reliever his first two years, he moved into the starting rotation and even earned his first All-Star selection. That’s a huge jump! But it looks like the workload might’ve caught up. Wrobleski hit 126 1/3 innings pitched with Saturday’s game, almost double his previous career high of 66 2/3 from 2025. That’s a massive jump in arm strain, and now we know why his performance was fading hard in recent starts. He just gave up four earned runs in six innings in Saturday’s 4-1 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, and the struggles had been mounting. Over his last four starts, Wrobleski allowed a brutal 19 runs across 19 2/3 innings and coughed up 11 home runs. Every single one of those four starts ended in a Dodgers loss. He even allowed two homers in that Saturday game against Milwaukee, which helped the Brewers (76-48) pull further ahead of the Dodgers (74-50) for the best record in the National League. You gotta wonder if that forearm inflammation was already messing with his stuff.
A Full House on the Mound
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts actually hinted at a change before Saturday’s game, saying he expected to move Wrobleski back to the bullpen “at some point in time.” It turns out the move is as much about the Dodgers’ absurdly stacked rotation getting healthy as it is about Wrobleski’s performance. They picked up two-time Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal at the trade deadline. Blake Snell, another two-time Cy Young winner, just returned to action last week from an elbow injury, dealing a dominant six innings with 10 strikeouts and only one run allowed. Former All-Star Tyler Glasnow pitched his third rehab start from a back injury on Saturday and is expected back in the rotation soon. Reigning World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto is still dealing at an All-Star level, and Eric Lauer and Roki Sasaki have been regular starters all season. Oh, and don’t forget two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani, who was in Cy Young contention himself before knee issues pulled him from the rotation in July, and he’s expected back pitching soon too. That’s a lot of arms.
So, with that kind of talent depth, it’s clear Wrobleski’s next pitch for the Dodgers, assuming he returns this season, will be out of the bullpen. His role in the postseason, if they make a deep run, is very likely going to be in relief.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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