Dodgers activate Carl Crawford from disabled list, option Zach Lee to Triple-A.

Carl Crawford

Carl Crawford has spent 16 days on the disabled list this year with a back injury after missing 75 games last year with an oblique injury. (John McCoy/Staff photographer)

The Dodgers activated Carl Crawford from the 15-day disabled list on Tuesday. He’s starting in left field and batting seventh against the Miami Marlins, who will send right-handed pitcher Tom Koehler to the mound. Crawford has never faced Koehler in his career.

Crawford played five games at the beginning of the season before he was sidelined with a sore lower back. Even then, he never played a full nine innings in any game, and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts hinted Tuesday that pattern will continue.

“We’ve seen there’s a propensity to get injured,” Roberts said. “Even in the beginning of the season you saw I took him out even to get him off his feet. The idea of running him out there until he breaks is not something I believe in. I just try to kind of conserve as much as possible and just use that depth.”

Roberts said that “optimally” Crawford would play “three, maybe four times a week.”

Dodger left fielders are hitting .235 without Crawford. That number is propped up by Kiké Hernandez‘s .310 average, compiled almost entirely against left-handed pitchers. Howie Kendrick has struggled at the plate this season, batting .159, and is not in the starting lineup today with Crawford back.

Lee did not appear in a game during his three days in the majors.

Crawford made three rehab appearances with Oklahoma City and Single-A Rancho Cucamonga, combining to hit .364 (4-for-11) with two doubles and three RBI, last playing Sunday for the Quakes.

This entry was posted in JP on the Dodgers and tagged , , , by J.P. Hoornstra. Bookmark the permalink.

About J.P. Hoornstra

J.P. Hoornstra covers the Dodgers, Angels and Major League Baseball for the Orange County Register, Los Angeles Daily News, Long Beach Press-Telegram, Torrance Daily Breeze, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Pasadena Star-News, San Bernardino Sun, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Whittier Daily News and Redlands Daily Facts. Before taking the beat in 2012, J.P. covered the NHL for four years. UCLA gave him a degree once upon a time; when he graduated on schedule, he missed getting Arnold Schwarzenegger's autograph on his diploma by five months.