{"id":655415,"date":"2026-03-31T23:26:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T23:26:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/655415\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T23:26:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T23:26:15","slug":"injury-notes-murphy-kittredge-lodolo-canning-pushard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/655415\/","title":{"rendered":"Injury Notes: Murphy, Kittredge, Lodolo, Canning, Pushard"},"content":{"rendered":"

Braves catcher Sean Murphy<\/a> will be with High-A Rome tomorrow, per Mark Bowman of MLB.com<\/a>. It\u2019s not yet determined if he will begin a rehab assignment or simply take live batting practice. Either way, Bowman suggests that Murphy could be trending towards a return before the month of May. Rehab assignments for position players can last as long as 20 days.<\/p>\n

Murphy has been hobbled by injuries the past two years and slashed .197\/.293\/.384 since the start of 2024. That was a notable drop from the .240\/.336\/.441 line he had in his career at the end of the 2023 season. Ideally, his return from September hip surgery will get him back on that previous track. Murphy was expected back at some point in May but this latest update suggests he could beat that target.<\/p>\n

When he gets back, it could impact other players on the roster. Jonah Heim<\/a> is currently backing up Drake Baldwin<\/a>. It\u2019s expected that the club will use the designated hitter spot to give regular at-bats to both Murphy and Baldwin. Perhaps they could cut Heim from the roster or keep him as a third catcher. Dominic Smith<\/a> is getting time in the DH spot for now and he has performed well, though in a small sample size of two games.<\/p>\n

Some more injury notes from around the league\u2026<\/p>\n

Orioles right-hander Andrew Kittredge<\/a> is set to begin a rehab assignment with Triple-A Norfolk tomorrow, per Jake Rill of MLB.com<\/a>. He missed most of spring training due to shoulder inflammation and started the season on the IL. He posted a 3.40 earned run average last year with a 30.8% strikeout rate, 5.3% walk rate and 49.2% ground ball rate. Baltimore has Ryan Helsley<\/a> in the closer\u2019s role. Once Kittredge is off the IL, he\u2019ll jump into a setup role alongside guys like Yennier Cano<\/a> and Tyler Wells<\/a>.
\nReds left-hander Nick Lodolo<\/a> is set to make a rehab start on Thursday, per Charlie Goldsmith of Charlie\u2019s Chalkboard<\/a>. A blister sent the southpaw to the IL to start the year. Goldsmith suggests Lodolo could rejoin the club for their series in Miami next week, implying Lodolo would only need to make the one rehab start. Cincinnati is also without Hunter Greene<\/a> to start the year, so it would be great to get Lodolo back sooner rather than later. The rotation is currently manned by Andrew Abbott<\/a>, Brady Singer<\/a>, Rhett Lowder<\/a>, Chase Burns<\/a> and Brandon Williamson<\/a>.
\nPadres right-hander Griffin Canning<\/a> tossed three innings in a simulated game yesterday, per Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune<\/a>, and will begin a rehab assignment on Saturday. Rehab assignments for pitchers can last as long as 30 days, so it seems Canning is trending towards a return in April or perhaps in early May. It was reported<\/a> a few weeks ago that late April would be possible but that May or June would be more likely. Perhaps Canning is now on a path for the more optimistic end of that window.
\nThe Cardinals today placed right-hander Matt Pushard<\/a> on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to March 30th, due to right knee patellar tendinitis. Fellow righty Gordon Graceffo<\/a> was recalled as the corresponding move. It\u2019s unclear how long Pushard is expected to be out. As a Rule 5 pick, he has to spend at least 90 days on the active roster this year or else the Rule 5 restrictions will carry over into the 2027 season.<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of Dale Zanine, Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Braves catcher Sean Murphy will be with High-A Rome tomorrow, per Mark Bowman of MLB.com. It\u2019s not yet…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2290],"tags":[1516,5,98,60710,1331,656],"class_list":["post-655415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-baseball","tag-andrew-kittredge","tag-baseball","tag-griffin-canning","tag-matt-pushard","tag-nick-lodolo","tag-sean-murphy"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116326380084498048","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=655415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655415\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=655415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=655415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=655415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}