LOS ANGELES — Will Smith will be active for the Wild Card Series.
The Dodgers announced their roster for the best-of-three series against the Cincinnati Reds Tuesday morning and it includes three catchers – Smith, Ben Rortvedt and Dalton Rushing.
After starting 122 games in left field despite batting .199 with a .637 OPS, Michael Conforto was left off the roster for the WCS. Instead, the Dodgers will carry Justin Dean, who spent all of August and part of September in the big leagues primarily because Tommy Edman was on the injured list with a recurring ankle issue. Dean could be used as a defensive replacement for Edman or as a pinch-runner against the Reds.
Smith has not played in three weeks after originally suffering an injury to his right hand when he was hit by a foul tip on Sept. 3. After playing one game six days later, the injury worsened. Multiple exams eventually revealed a hairline fracture in the back of his right hand, near his wrist.
He faced live pitching for the first time since going on the IL during the Dodgers’ workout Monday. The three-time All-Star hit .296 with a .901 OPS this season and could be used as a pinch-hitter with Rortvedt and Rushing handling most of the defensive work.
“I think we just have to make sure that he’s feeling good and able to get his swing off. I don’t think we’ll know that until we get right up until the point,” Dodgers GM Brandon Gomes said over the weekend. “It’s a balancing act because obviously he’s incredibly talented and we want to do everything that we can to have him in there. But we may get to a point where hey, it may not make sense that some percentage of Will is worth putting on the roster. So we’ve got a few days. I don’t want to close the door on him yet. But we’ve got to go fast in the next few days to see where we’re at.”
Here is the Dodgers’ complete roster for the WCS beginning at 6 p.m. Tuesday.
PITCHERS (11) – LH Jack Dreyer, LH Blake Snell, LH Tanner Scott, LH Alex Vesia, LH Justin Wrobleski, RH Tyler Glasnow, RH Blake Treinen, RH Edgardo Henriquez, RH Yoshinobu Yamamoto, RH Roki Sasaki, RH Emmet Sheehan
CATCHERS (3) – Will Smith, Ben Rortvedt, Dalton Rushing
INFIELDERS (4) – Mookie Betts, Miguel Rojas, Freddie Freeman, Max Muncy
OUTFIELDERS (4) – Andy Pages, Teoscar Hernandez, Alex Call, Justin Dean
IF-OF (3) – Kiké Hernandez, Tommy Edman, Hyeseong Kim.
DH/P (1) – Shohei Ohtani