Dodgers catcher Yasmani Grandal says he’ll probably start season on disabled list

Yasmani Grandal acknowledged that he will most likely begin the season on the disabled list as he recovers from inflammation in his right forearm. The Dodgers plan to pair A.J. Ellis with rookie Austin Barnes as the catching duo until Grandal is ready.

“I think the main thing for them is they don’t want me to go out and [reinjure] it,” Grandal said Saturday morning. “So far, Barnes and A.J. have been doing a good job. Barnes has been swinging it real good. A.J.’s been catching real good. So I’m not worried about that.”

He added, “It kind of sucks, because I don’t want to start down [on the disabled list]. But we’ll see how it goes.”

If Grandal started the season with the team and experienced a recurrence that required him to be placed on the 15-day disabled list, he would have to miss at least two weeks. By going this route, the Dodgers can back-date the start of his stint on the disabled list to Friday and activate him as early as April 9, a Saturday, when the Dodgers will be in San Francisco playing their sixth game of the season.

Grandal said he hoped to resume hitting and throwing on Monday. He felt a twinge in his forearm on March 19 and has not played since.

“It’s nothing that we have to be worried about,” Grandal said. “It’s not like there’s any tear or anything. It’s just literally inflammation. It’s just waiting for that inflammation to go down. And the bad thing about inflammation is that it can go and all of a sudden come back.”

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