
Brock Stewart has been shut down with fatigue in his right shoulder. (Denver Post photo)
GLENDALE, Ariz. — Brock Stewart has been shut down from throwing due to shoulder fatigue, and manager Dave Roberts said Sunday that he isn’t sure when the right-hander will pick up a baseball again.
“As I understand it is not serious,” Roberts said. “He just got a little fatigued and there’s soreness in his shoulder.”
Stewart made five starts for the Dodgers last year and figured to be near the top of the team’s Triple-A depth chart to start the new season. He made two Cactus League starts this spring, pitching 3 ⅓ innings and allowing seven runs.
Now, Stewart will have to start from “square one” when he is cleared to throw again. That all but rules him out from being ready to pitch, at least as a starter, when the regular season begins April 3.
“I don’t want to guess right now,” Roberts said. “When he picks up a baseball again, we’ll see how he feels.”
Dodgers outfielder Andre Ethier is still making progress back from a lower back/hip injury and will not play in either end of a split-squad doubleheader today. Ethier is “going to take a few more days away from baseball activities and slowly get him back in there,” Roberts said.
Ethier took ground balls yesterday at first base:
#Dodgers Andre Ethier is getting reps at first base. pic.twitter.com/Hw5YFHqOwn
— J.P. Hoornstra (@jphoornstra) March 11, 2017
Roberts suggested that Ethier might get his next at-bats in a minor league game this week.