Tyler Glasnow set to return for Dodgers, but how will they manage his workload?

Tyler Glasnow threw a three-inning, 57-pitch simulated game Friday at Dodger Stadium and is expected to return for Wednesday night’s game against the San Francisco Giants, giving an injury-ravaged rotation that had a major league-worst 8.22 ERA in the 15 games before the All-Star break a much-needed shot in the arm.

But once the ace comes back from a minor back injury, the Dodgers will have to determine the best way to keep the 6-foot-8 right-hander with a lengthy injury history healthy and sharp over the final 2½ months of the regular season and postseason.

“Honestly, I’m just going to manage him,” manager Dave Roberts said before Friday night’s game against the Boston Red Sox. “I don’t like the predetermined, you’re gonna throw three or four innings or 75 pitches.

“When he takes the mound, we’re expecting to win. If there’s a conversation that needs to be had or I hear something different, I’ll adjust. But for me, I’m going to manage him like any other pitcher. With Tyler, you just go out there and play baseball.”

Glasnow dealt with a litany of elbow and forearm problems after being traded from Pittsburgh to Tampa Bay in 2018, all of which culminated with Tommy John surgery in 2021. Even last season, as Glasnow set career highs in starts (21), innings (120) and strikeouts (162) with the Rays, he sat out two months because of an oblique injury.

Glasnow, who signed a five-year, $136.5-million extension with the Dodgers after he was acquired in December, went 8-5 with a 3.47 ERA and 143 strikeouts in his first 14 starts in which he threw 109 innings, 11 innings shy of his career high. The 18-day break between starts this month will ease Glasnow’s workload.

“It can’t hurt,” Glasnow said. “I was feeling good [before going on the injured list]. I was confident either way that I was going to be able to throw a lot of innings, but it’s definitely helpful.”

The Dodgers would prefer to keep Glasnow in the rotation for the rest of the season, with some extra rest between starts, rather than shut him down again in August.

“People could argue that an August shutdown might be beneficial to save bullets, but I don’t think there’s one way to go about it with these limits,” Roberts said. “I think he’s benefited from extra days between starts. More teams are doing that to shorten your workload over the course of the season.

“There’s a mental, psychological part of it, too. If you take three weeks off in August, and then for us to expect him to [return and] be dialed in … I don’t know if that’s fair. I believe in a player having skin in the game.”

Getting a grip

Mookie Betts took another step in his recovery from a left hand fracture when he took grounders and played catch without squeezing his glove hand Friday.

Betts, injured when he was hit by a 98-mph fastball on June 16, said he has about 50% strength in the hand. Roberts said once Betts’ grip strength reaches 85%, he can begin swinging a bat. The team's leadoff hitter doesn’t have a target date to return from an injury that is expected to sideline him for six to eight weeks.

“But everything is on track,” Betts said. “It all depends on the bone. Just because the strength is back, it doesn’t mean the bone is healed. I just want to make sure the bone is healed. You don’t want to rush and start making bad habits in your swing … and do more harm than good.”

Betts, who is batting .304 with an .892 on-base-plus-slugging percentage, 10 homers, 40 RBIs and 50 runs in 72 games, moved from second base to shortstop in early March, a switch to a more demanding position he hadn’t played regularly since high school. Betts had nine errors at his new spot, eight of them throwing.

Roberts said in late June that he would consider keeping the superior-fielding Miguel Rojas at shortstop and moving Betts to second when Betts returns, yet another switch that Betts would be OK with.

“I don’t care,” Betts said. “Whatever it takes to win.”

Short hops

Max Muncy took two rounds of soft toss Thursday, a small but positive step in the third baseman’s return from an oblique strain that has sidelined him for more than two months. “In talking to the doctors, I think the reason why it's taking so long is the size [of the strain],” Muncy said on the "Foul Territory" podcast. “It wasn't just one spot on the muscle that I had hurt, it was the entire thing, from underneath the ribcage all the way down to the hip. It was a large area that I hurt instead of just a small tiny spot.” … Reliever Joe Kelly, out since May 5 because of a shoulder strain, was activated for Friday night’s game. … Reliever Brusdar Graterol, sidelined all season by a shoulder injury, is scheduled to begin a rehabilitation assignment with triple-A Oklahoma City on Sunday. … The Dodgers will honor Hall of Famer Willie Mays, who died on June 18 at age 93, before Monday night’s series opener against the Giants. Mays’ son, Michael, will be in attendance.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times .