This article was generated by artificial intelligence and is automatically updated as news breaks. All credit belongs to the original reporters and their publications.

Will Smith has started throwing and hitting as part of his rehab progression from the neck injury that has kept him out of the Dodgers lineup for nearly a month, per Dodger Blue. Smith was first scratched from the lineup on June 6 after Dodgers manager Dave Roberts described the issue as a stiff neck. The team initially expected a quick return, but that timeline has stretched considerably — and now we’re looking at a rehab process that’s finally showing tangible forward movement.

Smith has been one of the more quietly productive catchers in baseball since establishing himself as the Dodgers’ everyday backstop. He’s a switch-hitter with legitimate pop from both sides of the plate, and his pitch framing and game-calling have steadily improved over the years. Losing him for a month hasn’t been trivial. Catchers don’t just slot in and out — their absence ripples through the pitching staff, the running game, everything. The fact that he’s now progressing to actual baseball activities (throwing and hitting, not just conditioning work) is a meaningful step. Neck injuries for catchers carry extra weight given the crouch, the head movement on foul tips, and the constant looking up at pop-ups. You want this one handled carefully.

The timing matters here. We’ve been leaning on Austin Barnes — who was just optioned ahead of the Padres series — and Austin Rushing, who has stepped into a bigger role. Rushing has handled himself well, including the interesting wrinkle of letting Shohei Ohtani call his own pitches, but he’s still a young catcher learning on the job at the big league level. Getting Smith back would stabilize the position in a real way, especially as the pitching staff navigates its own injury concerns with guys like Brusdar Graterol and others working back.

There’s no firm return date yet, and I wouldn’t expect the Dodgers to rush this. A stiff neck that was supposed to be a day-to-day thing turned into a month-long absence — that tells you this was more significant than initially let on, or at least more stubborn. The progression to throwing and hitting is encouraging, but a rehab assignment seems like a likely next step before Smith is back in the lineup. For a team trying to build momentum in July, every piece that comes back healthy matters, and Smith is a significant one.

We should get more clarity in the coming days on whether he’s close to game action or if this is still a slow build. Either way, the arrow is pointing up for the first time in a while on this one, and that’s what we needed to hear.

Source(s): Staff (Dodger Blue) | First reported: July 4, 2026 6:13 PM UTC

God Bless and Go Dodgers