Erstwhile Dodgers closer Evan Phillips has barely pitched since the start of 2025. He opened that season on the 15-day injured list for a right rotator cuff strain, ultimately debuting on April 19th. Phillips only made seven appearances before undergoing Tommy John surgery that May, causing him to miss the rest of that season and all of 2026 to date. The Dodgers non-tendered Phillips at the end of 2025, but ultimately re-signed him to a one-year, $6.5MM deal.
The fact that it was a one-year deal (and a $13.65MM overall commitment including the luxury tax) suggested that the Dodgers were confident in Phillips’ ability to return and pitch a meaningful sample in 2026. That long process will now come to fruition, as Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register reports that Phillips is currently with the team. According to manager Dave Roberts, Phillips will be activated off the injured list tomorrow (link via MLB.com’s Sonja Chen).
Back in February, general manager Brandon Gomes suggested that Phillips would return around late July, so his activation comes in a few weeks ahead of schedule. The righty has been on a rehab assignment at Triple-A for the last month, and the results have been encouraging. Phillips has a 1.80 ERA in 10 innings over 12 appearances, along with a 28.9% strikeout rate. He’s walking more hitters than he should be, but he’s more importantly back to full health. Phillips four-seamer and slider, which he combined to use over 75% of the time in 2024, are both back to their pre-injury velocities.
At his peak, Phillips was one of the most dominant relievers in the sport. From 2022-24, he threw 179 innings with a 2.21 ERA that was seventh-best among qualified relievers. He also ranked 18th with a 23.2% K-BB rate and earned 44 saves in that time. Having invested heavily in his rehab, the Dodgers are surely hoping Phillips can recapture that dominance through the remainder of this season.
It may help that Phillips won’t be needed in the closer role. Tanner Scott has taken that job since Edwin Díaz went on the IL in April for loose bodies in his elbow. Scott had a 4.74 ERA last year but has cut that down to 2.02 in 35 2/3 innings this year. Meanwhile, his 32.1% K-BB rate is third-best among qualified relievers, behind only Mason Miller and Jhoan Duran. With a dominant Scott already in place as the closer, the team can afford to use Phillips in medium-leverage spots and, if all goes well, build him up to a high-leverage setup role come October.
Speaking of closers, Katie Woo of The Athletic reports that Díaz faced live hitters in a pregame session today. It was Díaz’s first live session since underdoing surgery, and he reportedly came away feeling “way better than early in the season,” as relayed by Chen. Díaz felt encouraged by the swing-and-miss on his fastball during the session and hopes to be activated not long after the All-Star break, according to Chen.
Díaz struggled in seven appearances before the surgery, allowing seven earned runs and five unintentional walks in six innings, although he did strike out ten hitters. Owing to the loose elbow bodies, his high-octane four-seamer was down 1.5 MPH from last year. Now that he’s thrown a live session, Díaz should be ready to start his own rehab assignment.
Having set a record for a closer’s average annual value this past offseason, there’s no question that Díaz will take that role from Scott upon his return. That will make Scott an overqualified setup option and serve to extend the Dodgers’ already dominant bullpen. All six of the team’s qualified relievers have ERAs under 3.60, and four of them have ERAs of 2.60 or lower. The bullpen’s 4.1 fWAR is tied for third-best in the Majors, and with the returns of Díaz and Phillips, the group figures to continue dominating over the stretch run.
On the hitting side, Enrique Hernández was one of the hitters facing Díaz today. According to Woo, the Dodgers continue to be optimistic on Hernández’s recovery from the “significant” left oblique tear he suffered in May. Due to that injury and his earlier recovery from offseason elbow surgery, Hernández has only appeared in two games this year.
Hernández, 34, is a free agent after this season. Last year’s numbers were the worst of his second stint with the Dodgers. In 256 plate appearances, Hernández batted .203/.255/.366 with a wRC+ of 70, indicating he was 30% worse than the average hitter. He remains a capable defender at multiple positions, so he holds value in a depth role, to say nothing of his valuable clubhouse presence. Alex Freeland, who was recalled to take Hernández’s roster spot in May, only has a 77 wRC+ and is a candidate to be optioned when the latter eventually returns.
Photo courtesy of Brett Davis, Imagn Images
