Dodgers hit with unfortunate injury update on important rotation depth piece

Gavin Stone is just one of the many pitchers at Dodgers spring training who fans have to keep a beat on, but there's been a lot more hype for him than most of LA's fringier arms.

He and River Ryan are coming off of major surgeries that cut promising rookie seasons short and kept them sidelined throughout 2025. Stone throw a complete game shutout in 2024 and still managed to lead the Dodgers in innings that year despite going down in September.

His spring training debut on Feb. 24 went well; he started against the Guardians and pitched a clean inning with two strikeouts. He was relieved to have made his reintroduction effectively after his outing, and expressed optimism about his chances of making the Opening Day roster.

Which makes the latest update even more depressing. Per Jack Harris of the California Post, Dave Roberts said Stone is experiencing a "setback" with his shoulder — the same one that was operating on in 2024 — and is no longer throwing. He reported discomfort after his start and during a bullpen.

With all of the pitchers clamoring for precious few openings, that could eliminate Stone from Opening Day consideration.

Dodgers shut Gavin Stone down after experiencing a "setback" with his shoulder

Ryan, Emmet Sheehan, Justin Wrobleski, and maybe Landon Knack and Kyle Hurt are all still in the conversation for Blake Snell's spot in the rotation, a six-man spot, or maybe both. Stone's chances seemed good; even with just a single inning under his belt, Andrew Friedman spent the weeks leading up to spring training expressing optimism and excitement to see Stone and Ryan return after surgery.

Even if Stone hadn't made the rotation outright, he was still a plausible long relief candidate for the bullpen, potentially knocking Jack Dreyer or Ben Casparius out of their places.

And it's impossible for this to not conjure up flashbacks to 2024, when the Dodgers' rotation was so injured so often that the bullpen was bailing them out at every turn. Snell is already unprepared to throw by Opening Day, and now Stone? It's hard for Dodgers fans not to get scared that these are just the first dominoes.

We can and should remain optimistic that Stone will bounce back well and maybe even be able to get back into the game later this month, but as Dodgers fans know: Roberts' updates are never reassuring.