The first of the 10 Dodgers to open the season on the injured list has been activated, with reliever Brock Stewart joining the team in Houston on Wednesday ahead of the series finale against the Astros at Daikin Park.
Stewart was slowed this spring after right shoulder debridement surgery late last September. In eight rehab games — two with Class-A Ontario, then six with Triple-A Oklahoma City — Stewart struck out 13 of his 27 batters faced (48.1 percent) in 6 1/3 scoreless innings, with four hits, three walks, and a hit batter. In those 6 1/3 rehab innings, Stewart threw 112 pitches and induced 23 swinging strikes, including 15 in 4 2/3 innings in Triple-A.
Stewart in six games for the Comets averaged 95.5 mph on his four-seam fastball and 94.8 mph on his sinker, down a bit from his 96.2-mph average on both pitches last season.
After not pitching during spring training, Stewart had his build-up over three weeks with Ontario and Oklahoma City. The final week in Triple-A checked off the usual boxes for relievers. He pitched on back-to-back days Wednesday and Thursday, including a one-batter appearance in the second outing, then entered in the middle of an inning on Sunday at Round Rock.
To make room for Stewart on the active roster, left-hander Jake Eder was optioned to Triple-A. Eder allowed one run in four innings with the Dodgers, with one strikeout and a walk, and earned his first major league win on Monday against the Miami Marlins at Dodger Stadium. The left-hander appeared in four of the 15 games for which he was active.
Eder was acquired from the Washington Nationals for cash consideration on April 1. He’s pitched 12 games in the majors over the last three seasons, including 2024 with the Chicago White Sox and 2025 with the Angels. All of those games were in relief, though in his first four minor league seasons all 69 of his appearances were starts. For Oklahoma City, Eder pitched three games in relief before his call up on April 20 when closer Edwin Díaz was placed on the injured list.
“As a starter, you’ve got your day that you’re pitching, and you’ve got four or five days in between, and have it scheduled out, have a program,” Eder said last Tuesday. “I’m still getting used to [relief] but I’m basically just doing whatever I can before the game to be ready every night.”
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