Will Smith Injury Update: Dodgers’ star catcher sidelined for rest of regular season, playoffs return "up in the air"

The Los Angeles Dodgers are sweating on the availability of All-Star catcher Will Smith with the postseason just a few days away. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shared an update on the catcher's status on Saturday.

Smith missed five games at the start of the month after his throwing hand was injured during a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sep. 3. However, the scans came back clean, allowing a return to the lineup for Smith on Sept 9.

However, he was placed on the injured list last week after his hands swelled up a day after his return against the Colorado Rockies. Smith has been out of action since and Roberts said the All-Star catcher's return at the start of the postseason is "up in the air."

Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman shared that the three-time All-Star has sustained a "small" fracture in his throwing hand.

"It sounds like from the doctors that it's so small and in such a small part of the hand that it didn't show up initially but did on the subsequent [scan],” Friedman said. “They seem to say [that] is common. "I haven't seen it, but I also haven't seen a broken bone in that area very often. It makes sense why it was slow to rebound. I'm glad we have clarity on it. We're going to do everything we can to strengthen and heal and get it back.”

Dodgers backups step up in Will Smith's absence

Will Smith was batting .296 with 17 home runs and 61 RBIs before his injury and the Dodgers have used Ben Rortvedt and Dalton Rushing. Rortvedt, a minor league addition at the trade deadline, was promoted to the roster and has batted .294 in 13 games in Smith's absence. Friedman praised the backup catcher for stepping up for the team.

“The way he's helped lead our pitching staff has been awesome,” Friedman said. “He really has that servant leadership mentality behind the plate, which has really ingratiated himself with a lot of our pitchers.”

While the Dodgers have done relatively well behind the plate in Smith's absence, his productivity in the middle order could be a big miss for the defending World Series winners in the postseason.

Edited by Chaitanya Prakash