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Dodgers prospect Kendall George avoided surgery on his left knee after suffering a patellar tendon injury in one of the more unusual ways you’ll see — trying to dodge a bat dog during a Double-A Tulsa game, per Dodger Blue staff. George hasn’t appeared in a game since May 25, but he was never placed on the injured list, which suggests the organization views this as something he can work through without a lengthy formal shutdown.

George is one of the more interesting young players in our system. The outfielder came to the Dodgers as part of a wave of athletic, toolsy prospects the front office has been stockpiling in the upper minors. He was playing regularly for Tulsa before the freak incident, and a patellar tendon issue is nothing to brush off — that tendon connects the kneecap to the shinbone and is critical for running, jumping, and basically every explosive movement an outfielder needs. The fact that surgery was avoided is genuinely good news. Patellar tendon surgery would have likely ended his 2026 season and potentially bled into 2027 spring training. Dodging that outcome (pun intended) keeps his development timeline more or less intact.

The circumstances here are bizarre enough that they deserve a moment. Bat dogs are a beloved minor league tradition — a trained dog retrieves bats from the field between at-bats. It’s wholesome. It’s fun. It is not supposed to send prospects to the training room with knee injuries. But that’s exactly what happened. George apparently tweaked his knee while trying to avoid a collision with the bat dog, and the result was a left patellar tendon issue that’s now kept him out for a full month. Minor league baseball is full of weird injury stories, but this one is up there.

The fact that George wasn’t placed on the injured list is interesting from a procedural standpoint. It could mean the Dodgers expect him back relatively soon, or it could simply reflect how the organization chose to manage his recovery without triggering a formal IL stint. Either way, he’s been out since late May and there’s no firm return date mentioned in the reporting.

For the Dodgers’ broader prospect pipeline, this is a minor speed bump more than a crisis. George is a name to track in Double-A, and losing a month of development reps is never ideal, especially for a young player trying to establish himself at that level. But avoiding surgery is the key takeaway here. The knee should heal, the reps will come back, and eventually this will just be one of those stories that gets retold in a future feature article if George makes it to the big leagues. For now, we wait for him to get back on the field in Tulsa — and maybe they keep the bat dog a safe distance from the batter’s box going forward.

Source(s): Staff (Dodger Blue) | First reported: June 24, 2026 3:18 PM UTC

God Bless and Go Dodgers