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Tyler Glasnow is moving closer to a rehab assignment after being sidelined for nearly three months with lower back spasms, per DodgerBlue.com. The right-hander faced hitters last Friday for the first time since landing on the injured list and threw 25 pitches, reportedly sitting in the mid-to-upper 90s with his fastball. That’s an encouraging velocity reading for a guy who’s been out since early May.

Glasnow has been one of the more frustrating injury stories in recent Dodgers memory — not because of anything he’s done wrong, but because of what he represents when healthy. When the Dodgers extended him on a five-year, $136.5 million deal before the 2024 season, they were betting on a pitcher with elite stuff: a fastball that touches triple digits, a devastating slider, and a curveball that can buckle knees. He rewarded that bet in 2024 with a dominant first half before an elbow injury intervened. His 2025 was limited as well, and now back spasms have stolen a significant chunk of 2026. The talent has never been in question. The availability always is.

The fact that he’s sitting mid-to-upper 90s after this long away from competitive action is genuinely good news. Back injuries can sap velocity and mechanics in ways that linger, and there was reasonable concern about what Glasnow would look like on the other side of this IL stint. Throwing 25 pitches to live hitters without a setback — and with that kind of velocity — suggests the arm is in a good place. The next step is a formal rehab assignment, likely with Oklahoma City, where he’d need to build up his pitch count over multiple outings before rejoining the big league rotation.

The timing here matters quite a bit for the Dodgers’ trade deadline calculus. We’re two days away from the deadline, and the front office has already signaled an “opportunistic mindset” in their approach. If Glasnow’s return looks like it’s on a realistic timeline — say, mid-to-late August — that changes how aggressively Andrew Friedman needs to pursue rotation help. A healthy Glasnow pitching alongside the current staff is a different equation than a rotation that has to white-knuckle it through September without him.

I’m not saying the Dodgers should count on Glasnow being a playoff horse. We’ve been burned by that kind of optimism before. But his progress is real, the velo is there, and a rehab assignment feels imminent rather than aspirational. That’s a meaningful development for a team trying to figure out how many resources to spend on pitching before Tuesday’s deadline. Getting Glasnow back healthy would be the best “acquisition” we could make — it’s just a matter of whether the body cooperates from here.

Source(s): Staff (DodgerBlue.com) | First reported: July 29, 2026 5:33 PM UTC

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