7:45PM: Dobbins didn’t receive an MRI, as he downplayed the seriousness of the elbow strain when speaking with reporters (including the Boston Globe’s Tim Healey). “Just some tightness that we’ve been grinding through for a little bit. It hasn’t been bouncing back how we would like, so [we’re] just trying to give it a couple for weeks,” Dobbins said, noting that his elbow soreness increased in his last start and didn’t get better in the subsequent days. Regardless, Dobbins said he expects to resume throwing bullpen sessions in “a couple of days.”
3:34PM: The Red Sox announced that right-hander Hunter Dobbins has been placed on the club’s 15-day injured list due to right elbow strain. Righty Richard Fitts was called up from Triple-A in the corresponding move.
The placement is retroactive to June 21, a day after Dobbins allowed four earned runs on five walks and four hits over a four-inning start against the Giants. It is fair to guess that Dobbins’ elbow issue impacted his performance, as he was throwing with less velocity than usual and his control was uncharacteristically off — the rookie had issued just 11 walks over his previous 55 1/3 innings and 11 games prior to Friday’s struggles.
Multiple injuries in Boston’s rotation opened the door for Dobbins to make his MLB debut this season, and (Friday’s start notwithstanding) he has made a solid showing for himself in his first taste of the majors. Dobbins has a 4.10 ERA over 59 1/3 frames, with an above-average 47.1% grounder rate and 6.5% walk rate, though he doesn’t miss many bats with a modest 17.3% strikeout rate.
An eighth-round pick for the Red Sox in the 2021 draft, Dobbins would likely have been selected earlier had his junior year at Texas Tech not been wiped out by a Tommy John surgery. That past procedure adds a bit of extra weight to another elbow-related injury for Dobbins, though the severity of the strain isn’t yet known.
Fitts has made five starts for the Sox this year and will at least the short-term replacement for Dobbins in the rotation. Tanner Houck is on a Triple-A rehab assignment but is expected to make at least two more minor league appearances before returning from the injured list, so Fitts will have to hold down the fort until Houck is ready. That might also roughly line up with a potential return date for Dobbins, though one would imagine that even a minor elbow sprain would keep him out beyond the minimum 15 days just for precautionary reasons.