Dodgers Territory - MRI Reveals UCL Tear for Rushing, What Are the Next Steps?

Episode Date: August 5, 2026

Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing could miss the rest of the season after an MRI revealed a UCL tear in his right elbow. What are the next steps? Clint Pasillas and Katie Woo break down the latest. See how K12 Powered Schools can help unlock your child’s full potential.  Enroll online today at K12.com/foul Subscribe to the podcast!https://www.youtube.com/@DodgersTerritory  Follow our social media channels for more content!https://x.com/LADTerritory https://www.instagram.com/ladterritory/ https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61578546105253  Check out DT merch at https://dodgersterritoryshop.com Support Guidry's Guardian at https://guidrysguardian.org Find Clint on YouTube at https://youtube.com/@alldodgers Follow Katie's work at The Athletic https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/author/katie-woo/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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We're going to hear from Katie Wu in a couple of minutes, but we're here to talk about the latest with the Dalton rushing elbow injury situation. Of course, it was revealed yesterday that the reason Dalton rushing was scratched from the lineup over the weekend and missed the next game and has been subsequently put on this. the IL with an elbow issues because he has a partially torn or a small tear in his right UCL, the ulnar-kir lateral ligament, which goes about right here in your arm. And this is a good part, that's a good beefy part that you need to throw a baseball, which is something a catcher needs to do.

Let's go ahead and get the news here. This was from Katie last night. Again, Dave Roberts told Dave Vasay that there was a UCL tear revealed for Dalton rushing. They're trying to avoid surgery right now. They're labeling it as a small tear. Take that with a grain of salt, of course, with this organization. They would ideally, this was the news from the morning, this from Fabian Ardaya, that there's a small chance that he is back to catch this year. But more importantly, they want to keep him as an option, an option to hit off the bench as a left-handed bat, which I understand he has been better than some people view him, we'll say.

Obviously, he's had some issues here and there with the virality of his game, but he has honestly been a very good player as a hitter this year. somewhat streaky at times, but having an OPS north of 800 there you see it, 12 dingers on the year, the RBI total, it is what it is. He's batting down in the lineup. And we know this is a lineup that has struggled to put runs on the board of late. But he has been very good, so I could understand the idea of wanting to keep that bat in the lineup or just available in some way in October, but it feels so niche to have a essentially two DHS on a, essentially two DHS on a 26-man roster with him and Shohei Otani who also can't play defense. I question that a little bit when you have some other guys that are down in the system that can maybe fill that out. I don't

know. We'll talk more about this as the days and weeks sort of progress, but still, this is the latest with Dalton Rushing. He is out. Surgery, of course, is something that is on the table, but we're going to find out more now from Katie about what's going on with Dalton Rushing. Are they going to go the surgical route, a little bit of rest and recovery? so let's bring Katie in right now. All right, we got Katie with us from the ballpark. We had the news yesterday, kind of flew under the radar early, David Roberts, telling David Vasay about the MRI results, giving us a torn UCL in Dalton Rushing's elbow.

Not good. I have a lot of thoughts. What can you tell us the latest with this? Small tear, they're trying to keep them around as a bat. What can you tell us, Katie? Yeah, it's certainly not what you want for Dalton rushing, who saw an opportunity for the full-time starting role in mid-June when Will Smith went down and really took it and ran with it. And I think the front office specifically has been thrilled with Dalton's development in that full-time role. But real unfortunate news with this UCL strain, we talked a little bit more to Dave Roberts this morning.

I'll just rip off my phone here. They won't know more about this injury and the extent of it for about a month. So their thought process right now is to rehab in hopes of avoiding. surgery. There is a small chance that he can come back and catch behind the plate, but their thought is if he get surgery right now, he will not be able to play in the postseason at all. If with the next two weeks-ish, they can see how he responds to treatment and no throw, there is a chance he could come back and be used as a hitter only. And given the lack of left-handed bats on their roster currently, they think Dalton can still have value on this team, especially in October when you're looking

at the playoff run as a bat off the bench from the left side. So it's kind of all fluid right now. I'm going off again, just talk to Dave Roberts about this. If this fails and he's not able, Dalton Rushing is not able to respond to treatment, they will undergo surgery. But right now, because it's August and they can still maybe use him as a bat later in the season, they're gonna try the rest and recovery method first.

Is it gonna be like maybe a PRP injection? Have they mentioned anything about what that recovery looks like? They're still going through it. Again, this is all pretty new information and then granted, you know, coming right off the trade deadline. There's been a lot of moving parts here, but this was clear when they went

out and acquired, or acquired, excuse me, two catchers, that this is going to be more than just a minimum IL stint. For Dalton, we know that Will Smith, I'm sure we'll get into, is due back right around maybe September, beginning of September when rosters expand. But for Dalton, there is just no timetable as to what this could look like. Their hope is to just whatever they decide on recovery again, no throw for at least two weeks. It's looking more like four to six, just based on the recovery, but they'll know for sure what kind of the next step is after his initial response to the two-week period. So very fluid. I know this fan base has their rightful trust issues with Dodgers and their injury updates, but this one I do believe it's all about how this don't respond to the

initial treatment surgery, not off the table, but something they're hoping to avoid because while he's probably not going to be back for as a catcher this year, they could still use his bat from the left side. Yeah, Dave and company really losing some equity there when it comes to, oh yeah, everything's going to be fine. It's going to be great. You know, he should be back in the lineup real soon. I don't think those were his exact words on this one. Yeah, it seems tough. Obviously, they're saying it's a small tear. We're not, we are never going to be privy to the degree, the severity of that tear.

I went on a little bit of a rampage last night saying, hey, this is the type of thing you kind of get fixed now because he's a catcher. He kind of needs that arm to throw down to second base. That's generally how the position works. So, again, if it is small, maybe that you can get the healing, you can get the PRP. I mean, you mentioned they don't have another left-handed bat, at least on the roster right now, on the 4th. 40 men. There are some dudes down to AAA that are raking. They're kind of need, I mean, they're not going to go Hose de Paula. That's obvious. But maybe there's a James Tibbs opportunity here. I mean, I know that stunts his growth just to come up and sort of be a bench bat. But like,

what is the, I guess, I guess there's no reason to say what is the real reality of Dalton rushing coming back and being a major player for this team this year? Because like you said, we're not going to know for at least another month. And to the Will Smith factor before we bounce back to Dalton, The latest was that he's moving. He's back at square one, back at square one likely looking at sort of a spring training's worth of ramp up here. What can you tell us about Will and that neck? Yeah, you know, he's still at Dodgers Stadium.

We're on the road, obviously at Wrigley Field today. Teams in Arizona over the weekend, but we talked to another kind of minor Will Smith update with not a lot of new information. He's still doing baseball activity, taking swings in the cage. It's going to be a slow progression when we talked to Dave Roberts at the beginning of last week. He said that the Dodgers are looking for a three to four week ramp up for Will minimum. That includes a rehab stint. But again, we're going to see a lot of the catching tandem between Ben Morfret and Hunter Feduccia for, I would say, the majority, if not all of August.

Because the Dodgers don't feel the need to rush Will Smith back because if they rush him back and he has a setback because he's overcompensating for not being 100% healed, there is a significant chance, then they don't have him for the stretch run in September and God forbid October. And you need Will Smith. In the end of September and into October, much more than you need him in the middle of August. It's not the ideal tandem that they wanted.

This is not a plan that they had on Saturday when they had landed Terek Scouble, that they were going to go out and say, you know what, we're going to go with the catching tandem. Two guys, to be fair, have had experience in this organization, but are brand new this season to what's been going on. Their ideal tandem was Smith and rushing come September. Now it's most likely going to be warped with the bulk of the star

at Spuduja backing up and hoping that Will Smith can make a full return. by September. But again, no need to rush him. I would actually argue it's imperative that they don't because if you don't have Will Smith healthy for the end of September, you're not feeling nearly as good as for your postseason odds as you should be. Hey, can I take a little bit more of a victory lap on the Ben Roert vet stuff? Because I've been on this, it feels like for 10 years now, trying to get this guy back for the specific reason that the product familiarization, as I kept calling it. He knows this club for the greater part. He knows how they operate. They know how he operates. So I really, like him in there. And let's not forget, everybody, he's 4 and O in the postseason last year when he was starting games behind the plate.

That said, I don't want Hunter for Dushia and Tim, sorry, Ben WirtVett, being the starting catchers for the Dodgers in the postseason. So yeah, don't rush Willback. Dave had mentioned, you know, don't see him before three or four weeks. Could put him at the earliest first or second week of September. I'm cool, you know, just taking your time there. For parents looking for a new path to help your child succeed this year, there's still time to enroll in K-12-powered online schools. K-12-powered schools offer tuition-free accredited online public education for students in kindergarten through 12th grade. Toddfather, take it away.

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So if you're trying to keep him as a left-handed bat, it is his right arm, which is his lead arm for his bat, obviously his throwing arm. That's something where I don't remember if we ever got the specific diagnosis with Kike Hernandez and whether or not that was a UCL injury he dealt with last year. But I think of Kike's elbow issue, that also being his left arm, his lead arm on his swing and how much that affected him, particularly away pitches extending through the baseball.

I could see the same thing with Dalton rushing and potentially further aggravating that UCL. I don't know. I guess that's more of just a statement than anything to tee you up on a question there, but is that something that they're factoring in? Could they pivot to make it where he gets, you know, a surgery or something? some sort of they shut them down because this affects a swing or could be further aggravated. It's a fair point. And it's valid.

We talked a lot behind the scenes of like the different ways that Dalton could go in terms of the rehab and recovery process. But I think again, it's all about the player too. And Dalton is at the minimum, a very tough kid. Right. And this is what Dave Robert said this morning where he could respond differently to treatment just based on, you know, who he is as an athlete, who he is as a person. But it's really hard to predict what that's going to look like. Again, there are so many different moving parts here.

Come Sunday morning, they weren't even aware that this is going to flare up and be this big of a thing. It just made itself very apparent right before that game against the Red Sox. That's why they kind of scrambled to get work bet and fiducius on the deadline day. Appiring to backup catchers was not part of their plan. So for Dalton, the biggest part is just take the next two weeks, no throw, recover, see how you respond to treatment. If in two weeks he's not getting any better, they don't see a path where he could be a meaningful part, even off the bench come the post season,

they're most likely gonna opt for surgery. But until we talk to Dalton, which probably won't be back until we get back to LA, it's really hard to say what he feels is the best treatment because this is not just a Dodgers decision, right? This is a Dalton rushing decision and the med care or med team decision as well. They're all gonna kind of come together

in three different ways to find the best solution. Right now they've deemed it, let's just shut him down for a little bit. They really want Dalton's bat in the postseason. Again, they have virtually no left-handed bats off the bench so I can understand it, but I also understand the rational of this could be something that gets aggravated into even a bigger injury.

The Dodgers are trimming a slight UCL tear, but a tear is a tear. And at some point, I understand them trying to put off surgery, and I understand that might be what Dalton wants too. But if you're not seeing the response in two, three weeks, their hands are ultimately going to be tied, and Dalton's going to have to do that. Yeah, and we'll let you get out of here. I'll let you get out of here and go do your job after this.

The other factor I had kind of pop into my head last night is late in 2021. We saw Max Muncie get his elbow blown up at first base getting run into by Jace Peterson. That offseason, the league and the Players Association entered a lockout, which means that the team does not have access to the players, the players does not have access to team medical and all that kind of stuff. So this is where you worry about putting off a surgery a little bit too long, and then all of a sudden Dalton's left high and dry when it comes to his recovery from, it sounds like it won't be a full Tommy John reconstruction but hey I ain't playing no big city medical doctor here maybe internal brace or

something like that but still him kind of flying blind yeah they'll give him some paperwork you do the homework buddy as you recover I want do you think that is something that could sort of enter the minds of the team like hey we do I don't know if it's legally but we wouldn't be able to talk to you through this in the worst case scenario where there's surgery let's try to knock this out now is that something that this team could consider or am I just being two paranoid and, you know, have been hurt in the past before. We all have our past traumas, Clint. It's okay. I think it's fair. And it's definitely something that they're weighing behind the scenes as well. You know, I can't speculate on the kind of

treatment or surgery that's going to be required for Dalton. I certainly understand why people are, though, because any time you hear the words, UCL tear, surgery possible, you think worst case scenario. So again, I can understand why the Dodgers given the significant weight of the decision. And also, Dalton, are going to give this two weeks and try to avoid surgery. That would be the best case scenario, obviously. But there are, for all the reasons you just outlined, reasons to get clarity soon, which is why I don't think they're going to wait for the full four to six week

window that Dave Roberts has said that rushing will be no throw. I think they're going to look more at that two-week window of has the initial treatment brought any sore or alleviated any sort of pain. If so, let's keep it up. If not, we're going to make a decision here too. Well, Katie, appreciate the time here. You plugging in in a very obvious, obviously busy part of the ballpark there.

Hopefully, as we're recording this before the game, the Dodgers get a win, but appreciate you jumping on, and hopefully we see you tomorrow when we're live at noon. Hey, I'm Ruby Carr, the host of the podcast, Encore. Check out our brand new episodes featuring music from the show that everyone is reheating as we speak. Heated rivalry. Join me as I go behind the songs that brought Shane and Elia together.

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I would not be hurt to see surgery. The surgery option be chosen for Dalton rushing, especially if your plan is to have him catching and playing defense for years to come. He's going to need to be able to throw a baseball. But we have seen people undergo PRP and rest and recovery and bounce back. Depending, once again, on the severity of that tear, that's where it can heal, it can get better, and maybe he plays the rest of his career,

never needing surgery or never having to worry about that elbow again. But my brain is going to go to the worst case scenario and what we've seen with the Dodgers of late and just some of the bad luck they have had with some injuries and them taking longer or certain injuries becoming something bigger. I think of like the back with, Tyler Glass now you could think of the shoulder with Gavin Stone but anyways it's been long enough those are our thoughts sound off in the comments let us know what you would do at

dalton rushing send some well wishes for Dalton rushing is you know hopefully he could bounce back and become a factor for this team in some way shape or form into the postseason like the show subscribe to the channel I know this one was a little bit weird a little bit different. Got some breaking news, so we figured we should talk about it. We will be back tomorrow Thursday, 12 p.m. Pacific time. Myself, Alana, should we have a Katie Wu also joining us there. Subscribe to the channel again.

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Other little perks. You get the badges, custom emojis, so on, so forth. All right, we'll see you Thursday. Bye. I'm Nick Tuturo. You probably know me from NYPD Blue, the longest yard, or Spike Lease Black Klansman. And on my new podcast, delivering happiness with Nick Tatourl, I deliver pizza to a new guest. I've shared a slice with everyone from Seth Rollins.

What are you doing my belt? To Bill Burr. I don't think I've ever met somebody so exactly out of their mind as I am. And now we even have more great guests coming up, including the great John Tuturo. It's called Happiness. Delivering Happiness. And many, many more. Open your free High Heart Radio app.

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Do better or do less, so I don't have to do so much. I'm Yamanika, and I'm out. Listen to You're the Problem with Yamanika on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Summer Blockbusters are back. The Odyssey and Spider-Man brand-new day have taken over cinemas, and Raiders of the Lost podcast has all the coverage you need, including our interview with direct. director Destin Daniel Cretton. What surprised you about Tom Holland?

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