Dodgers notes: Dustin May PRP injection, Mookie Betts, James Outman

Dodgers pitcher Dustin May will be placed on the injured list later on Thursday after leaving his Wednesday start after just one inning with right elbow pain. He has a strain of his flexor pronator strain.

May is expected to miss between at least a month, maybe more. Mike DiGiovanna at the Los Angeles Times has more, including postgame reaction.

Fabian Ardaya at The Athletic has more detail on what’s next:

Those tests showed the injury didn’t appear to impact his surgically-reconstructed ulnar collateral ligament, league sources told The Athletic. May will receive a platelet-rich plasma injection into the tendon to promote healing in the area with the hopes of avoiding season-ending surgery. If the injection works properly, the source said, the hope is that May could return within four to six weeks.

A search of the Baseball Prospectus injury list ledger shows a quartet of pitchers over the previous two seasons with Flexor pronator strains. In 2022, Luke Weaver missed 65 games, Hunter Harvey missed 80 games, and Art Warren missed 45. In 2021, Jake Odorizzi missed 34 games with the injury.

With May landing on the injured list, the Dodgers will bring back Justin Bruihl, who was optioned Wednesday after pitching on each of the previous three days, Dave Roberts said after the game, per SportsNet LA. Roberts said the team might also make another move to add a pitcher.

Mookie Betts has played seven games at shortstop this season, starting five times, in his first major league time at the position, a decade after doing so in the minors. His infield indulges help Betts relieve stress, and show off his variety of skills. From Alden Gonzalez at ESPN:

“That’s why I go in and go play short and go do things at short, because if you don’t use it you lose it,” Betts said. “Go be an athlete. And then when I go to right [field], I turn on all those athletic muscles and I can go catch those fly balls and do all those things. But if I just stood in right all the time, I might lose some of those things.”

James Outman’s grand slam was part of a two-hit day, a welcome sight for the Dodgers outfielder fighting a slump. Per Helene Elliott at the Los Angeles Times, “Catcher Will Smith told him to find the positive in the negatives. That resonated strongly with Outman, though the 26-year-old Redwood City native sometimes had to dig hard to find the smallest hint of hope.”

A recent uptick in batters trying to trick pitchers into thinking they are ready has led to an MLB memo telling hitters to cut it out. From Jesse Rogers at ESPN: “From now on, when a batter gets into a hitting position and engages with the pitcher, with one or both feet out of the box, he’ll be warned and then assessed a strike on subsequent violations, according to the memo.”