When the Dodgers were around Evan Phillips it hasn’t arrived since early 2025. He opened that season on the 15-day injured list with a strained right rotator cuff, finally coming out on April 19. Phillips made just seven appearances before undergoing Tommy John surgery in May, causing him to miss the entire season and 2026 to date. The Dodgers did not buy Phillips out at the end of 2025, but eventually re-signed him to a one-year, $6.5MM deal.
The fact that it was a one-year deal (and a total commitment of $13.65MM including the luxury tax) suggested the Dodgers were confident in Phillips’ ability to bounce back and produce a meaningful sample in 2026. That long process is now coming to fruition, as Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register reports that Phillips has a team for now. According to manager Dave Roberts, Phillips will be taken off the injured list tomorrow (link posted by Sonja Chen of MLB.com).
Back in February, the general manager Brandon Gomes suggested that Phillips will return in late July, so his performance comes a few weeks early. The righty has been on a rehab assignment in Triple-A for the past month, and the results have been encouraging. Phillips has a 1.80 ERA in 10 innings over 12 appearances, and a 28.9% strikeout rate. He’s walking more hitters than he should be, but most importantly he’s back to full health. Phillips’ four-seamer and slider, which he combined to use more than 75% of the time in 2024, are both back to their pre-injury speeds.
In his prime, Phillips was one of the best nurses in the sport. From 2022-24, he threw 179 innings with a 2.21 ERA that ranked seventh among professional pitchers. He also ranked 18th with a 23.2% K-BB rate and earned 44 saves in that span. Having invested heavily in his rehab, the Dodgers are hoping Phillips can regain that dominance for the rest of the season.
It would help that Phillips isn’t needed in the closer role. Tanner Scott he has taken that job ever since Edwin Díaz went to IL in April to find loose bodies in his elbow. Scott had a 4.74 ERA last year but has lowered that to 2.02 in 35 2/3 innings this year. Meanwhile, his 32.1% K-BB rate is third best among professional pitchers, behind only Mason Miller again John Duran. With the outstanding Scott already there as a closer, the team can use Phillips in the middle positions and, if all goes well, build him into a senior setup role in October.
Speaking of closers, The Athletic’s Katie Woo reports that Díaz faced the hitters live in today’s pregame session. It was Díaz’s first live session since his surgery, and he reportedly came out feeling “much better than at the beginning of the season,” as reported by Chen. Díaz felt encouraged by the swings and misses on his fastball during the session and hopes to be open shortly after the All-Star break, according to Chen.
Díaz struggled in seven appearances before the surgery, allowing seven earned runs and five walks in six innings, though he struck out ten batters. Because of a loose elbow, his high-octane four-seamer is down 1.5 MPH from last year. Now that he’s thrown a live session, Díaz should be ready to begin his own rehab assignment.
After setting the record for the number of closers in the season this past season, there is no doubt that Díaz will take over that role for Scott when he returns. That would make Scott a perfect setup option and serve to expand the Dodgers’ already strong bullpen. All six of the team’s relievers have ERAs under 3.60, and four of them have ERAs of 2.60 or less. The bullpen’s 4.1 fWAR is tied for third-best in the Majors, and with the return of Díaz and Phillips, the team’s stats will continue to dominate over the stretch run.
On the batting side, Enrique Hernández he was one of the hitters facing Díaz today. According to Woo, the Dodgers remain hopeful that Hernández will recover from a “significant” left hamstring injury suffered in May. Because of that injury and his early recovery from offseason elbow surgery, Hernández has appeared in just two games this year.
Hernández, 34, is a free agent after this season. Last year’s numbers weren’t too bad in his second stint with the Dodgers. In 256 plate appearances, Hernández hit .203/.255/.366 with a wRC+ of 70, indicating he was 30% worse than batting average. He remains a capable defender in multiple positions, so he has great value in a deeper role, not to mention his valuable clubhouse presence. Alex Freelandwho was named to replace Hernández’s roster spot in May, has just a 77 wRC+ and is a possible candidate if the latter returns.
Photo courtesy of Brett Davis, Imagn Images
