When Trea Turner was out of the Los Angeles Dodgers lineup for the first time this season, Gavin Lux was penciled in to start at shortstop. However, Lux was scratched due to neck discomfort returning, and he’s yet to play since Sept. 1.
“I don’t know if it was a plane flight or what it was, but as he started to get it loose, the neck started to act up again, get cranky,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said at the time. “It was enough that he couldn’t post. So obviously he’s disappointed.”
Lux later received a cortisone injection and was ruled out for the entire series against the San Francisco Giants. Roberts estimated it would be upwards of six days before he returned to the Dodgers lineup.
However, Roberts said now the expectation is for Lux to miss the remainder of the San Diego Padres series and he possibly won’t play against the Arizona Diamondbacks as well, via SportsNet LA:
“I just got word it’s getting better each day. [Saturday], he’s going to do some swinging, which is encouraging. I thought there was a chance that he could play next series, and not even this series, so I think that as it stands right now, he’s still a week away from being in a game with us.”
Lux first dealt with neck pain in late August and it caused him to miss four games over a five-day span. Roberts admitted to some shock the latest trouble has lingered for so long:
“I think we’re all surprised by that. Gavin is getting antsy, but there’s just nothing we can do about it.
Lux is batting .293/.368/.428 with 18 doubles, seven triples, six home runs and 42 RBI while appearing 115 games. He has set career highs in games, doubles and triples, and Lux’s batting average, on-base percentage and slugging are on track to be the best marks of his career as well. So too is Lux’s .350 wOBA and 127 wRC+.
Will Dodgers put Gavin Lux on injured list?
Even with the issue returning, the Dodgers don’t regret deciding against putting him on the 15-day injured list last month.
“I just think at that point, you know what you know,” Roberts recently said. “He felt that he was playable, that he could play. And then we got back the other night and showed up and said his neck was just in a worse place. I don’t think it makes a whole lot of sense to say, ‘Could we have? Or should we have?'”
Roberts reiterated the Dodgers do not intend to put Lux on the IL.
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