Dalton Rushing has UCL tear in right elbow

The fact that Rushing has progressed enough to be facing live pitching likely means that a rehab assignment is on the horizon for some point next week. The Dodgers have been patchworking their catching situation while Rushing and Will Smith have been sidelined.

Rushing added that he doesn’t have a return timetable yet, but has already progressed to swinging a bat, and is optimistic he’ll be able to resume catching before the end of the season. The 25-year-old former top prospect was diagnosed with a UCL tear in his throwing elbow earlier this month. His return would help shore up Los Angeles’ catching situation heading into the postseason.

No surprise after Rushing was scratched from Sunday’s series finale against the Red Sox. It certainly explains why the Dodgers went out and acquired both Ben Rortvedt and Hunter Feduccia at the trade deadline. They’ll need to cobble things together behind the plate until Will Smith (neck) is ready to return in a couple weeks.

Technically, there are games happening shortly after Monday’s trade deadline. The Dodgers picked up backup catcher Ben Rortvedt from the Mets in a small deal, which seems to signal that Rushing could be headed to the injured list. The 25-year-old was scratched from Sunday’s series finale against the Red Sox with a minor arm issue. There should be some clarity on his status in the coming days.

The Dodgers are calling the issue “minor,” but it’s significant enough for him to be out of the lineup. Consider Rushing day-to-day, and Eliezer Alfonzo Jr. will instead handle backstop duties for Sunday’s contest.

Rushing entered hitless in 25 plate appearances since July 7, but he crushed the ball tonight; coming in at 108 mph on his homer, 102 mph on the double and 101 mph on a lineout to third. He has 11 homers, 11 doubles and 33 RBI in 222 plate appearances on the season.

The 31-year-old backstop will be shut down completely for the next week before beginning to ramp back up as he continues to deal with a nagging neck injury. Dalton Rushing will continue to see the bulk of the action behind the plate for the foreseeable future.

Smith has been sidelined since June 11 with a neck injury, and while he’s begun swinging, it sounds like the Dodgers are going to handle this situation very carefully. Dalton Rushing should continue to be Los Angeles’ main catcher and be a viable starter in 12-team leagues while Smith is sidelined. The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya believes the Dodgers view this as “an extended development period” for Rushing.

He was also only involved in one near-brawl, so that’s progress. It wasn’t really his fault anyway; Cole Carrigg slid into him at home plate and did a face plant afterwards, but that was mostly because his hand got caught on the leg of home plate umpire Dan Iassogna, who was caught being too close to the plate. The dugouts started to empty when it looked like the two players were going to come together, but cooler heads quickly prevailed. Rushing’s doubles came off Kyle Freeland early in the game, and the second would have been a homer in 22 ballparks, according to Statcast. The game-winner was a 74-mph grounder against a drawn-in infield that just squibbed past Edouard Julien at second base. It was Rushing’s 30th RBI, and it made the Dodgers the first team to 60 wins this season.

Alfonzo finally receives the call to the big leagues after spending nearly a decade in the minors. The 26-year-old Venezuelan native was hitting .313/.392/.422 with one homer at Triple-A Oklahoma City this season. He’ll give the Dodgers some additional catching depth behind Dalton Rushing with the club deciding to move on from Chuckie Robinson, who went 2-for-23 in eight games since being called up.