LOS ANGELES -- Tyler Glasnow, the Dodgers' oft-injured starting pitcher, on Tuesday downplayed concerns of a setback, one day after manager Dave Roberts revealed Glasnow's body did not respond well to a recent bullpen session.
Glasnow said his back "got a little tight" after a bullpen session on May 23 -- his first since landing on the injured list because of shoulder inflammation 25 days earlier -- but stressed that he temporarily stopped throwing off a mound as a precautionary measure. He said he expected to pitch off a mound again before the end of the week.
"I feel totally fine," Glasnow said. "Totally normal."
Glasnow, on the IL alongside fellow starters Blake Snell and Roki Sasaki, said his shoulder is "totally fine" but would not pinpoint a return date. Glasnow made five starts before his most recent IL stint, his last one, on April 27, lasting only one inning. He still needs to progress toward facing hitters, then get stretched out enough to rejoin the rotation. Glasnow said he was hopeful that his buildup wouldn't span the six or so weeks of a traditional one in spring training, but it seems increasingly likely that it will.
"I'm just taking it bullpen by bullpen," Glasnow said. "Hopefully I can face hitters soon. I'm trying to get out there. I want to be healthy, I want to be in the playoffs. I'm listening to [the Dodgers' trainers and coaches] and just trying to figure this out as best as I can. Coming back as soon as I can in a healthy way to help the team in the playoffs is my goal."
Glasnow was absent during last year's playoffs, when the Dodgers rode a three-man rotation and a deep bullpen to a championship. The 31-year-old right-hander was put on the IL on Aug. 11 because of what was described as elbow tendinitis, then felt discomfort while warming up for a simulated game on Sept. 13 and was diagnosed with an elbow sprain, ending his season.
Follow-up MRIs revealed that Glasnow was dealing only with tendinitis. But he made adjustments in consultation with biomechanical specialists both inside and outside the organization in hopes of remaining healthy, most of it centered on identifying a better "spine angle" to keep his delivery more compact and put less stress on his arm.
It seems to have had the opposite effect.
"I was opening up, so I was just putting a lot of stress on my shoulder," Glasnow said. "My velo was down, stuff wasn't good, command was really bad. When it clicked, like anything, it was fine. But I just wasn't on track and I didn't know how to fix it because it was just so new. But I was just late on everything. That's every pitcher's issue in their delivery, landing late or not being on time. I think it was more late than I'm generally used to. Like, it would be a great long-term fix, but I just don't think I was doing it correctly."
Over these past few weeks, Glasnow has essentially focused on marrying two principles -- implementing some of the subtle changes that can improve the health of his arm, but also of maintaining his athleticism and throwing more naturally.
"A lot of it is trusting my natural throw and just making sure all the staples of a healthy delivery are in there," Glasnow said. "I think any time I get out of whack or I'm not stable, I put myself at risk. I think just working with them to try to maybe not make such drastic changes but just get out to where we talk about just be athletic and go pitch.
"Right now, I feel really, really good mechanics-wise. Just be athletic and throw. It's enabled me to just be myself more now. As I get more on the mound and keep going, I'll kind of know more."
The Dodgers traded for Glasnow in December 2023, on the heels of his first full season since Tommy John surgery, then signed him to a five-year extension worth close to $140 million. The 22 starts and 134 innings Glasnow compiled in the subsequent season represented career bests, a testament to the durability issues that have plagued him since his major league debut in 2016.
Now Glasnow has joined Snell, Sasaki and Shohei Ohtani as rehabbing pitchers, all of them progressing relatively slowly in hopes of being at their best for the stretch run.
Glasnow says he believes he'll return with plenty of time.
"I'm not going to come back like late, late," he said. "I'm trying to get back as soon as I can; they're trying to get me back as soon as they can too but in like a healthy way. I default to, 'Let's go, I want to pitch now.' But at this point I just have to trust the professionals, how I'm feeling and how I'm recovering and all that. But we're both on the same wavelength of, 'Let's get you back out as healthy as possible as soon as possible, in a healthy way.'"