Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell is set to undergo surgery to remove loose bodies from his elbow, according to manager Dave Roberts, but there is hope he could return sooner than the 2-3 months such procedures typically require.
While the exact nature of the operation Snell will have next week is still being determined, multiple sources told The California Post that there is hope he will be able to utilize a new medical technology called the NanoNeedle Scope 2.0 — which is a smaller version of a typical arthroscope that allows for less invasive procedures and a potentially faster recovery time.
On May 6, two-time reigning American League Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal became the first known major-league pitcher to have such a procedure, which was performed by renowned sports surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache (who is the Dodgers’ head team physician and will also perform Snell’s surgery).
Already, Skubal is back to playing catch, according to The Post’s Jon Heyman, and could return in as little as six weeks.
Snell’s exact timeline won’t be clear until his surgery is completed. But Roberts said there was hope he would have a “quicker recovery,” citing the surgical options that would be available for the 33-year-old pitcher.
Snell had a more traditional loose-body removal to address the same elbow problem in 2019 while he was playing with the Rays. That year, he missed two months before returning to the mound.
This year, Snell had missed more than a month to begin the campaign while recovering from offseason shoulder fatigue, which stemmed from a shoulder injury that cost him four months during his debut campaign with the Dodgers in 2025.
While the Dodgers had taken his timeline to return slowly, hoping to avoid the kind of elongated absence he experienced last year, he returned to the active roster a week sooner than expected, skipping a final scheduled minor-league rehab outing after Tyler Glasnow went on the injured list last week with back spasms.
Without Snell and Glasnow, the Dodgers are facing their first pitching crunch of the season, down to just five healthy starters.
They are hopeful of getting Glasnow back in the somewhat near future, though he has been limited to only flat-ground catch play in recent days and likely remains at least a couple weeks away from returning.
Former top prospect River Ryan is their best option to call up from Triple-A. But he recently missed a month on the minor-league injured list with a hamstring problem and has made just three outings this year in his return from a Tommy John surgery.
Thus, the Dodgers might have to roll with just a five-man rotation for now — which presents complications as they work around the roughly one-start-per-week schedule of their three Japanese pitchers: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki and Shohei Ohtani.
It could result in an added short-term strain on their bullpen, which had to cover all nine innings of Friday’s game after Snell was scratched.
But if things go as the Dodgers hope, Snell might not be out as long as initially feared.
