Dodgers’ A.J. Ellis hopes to avoid stint on disabled list

DENVER — In the past week Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis has been hit by a pitch, taken a foul ball directly off his knee and was flattened by the St. Louis Cardinals’ Jon Jay in a collision at the plate. But it took a freak swing in batting practice to keep him out of the lineup the last two days and now the Dodgers are hoping Ellis’ strained left oblique doesn’t force him to the disabled list.

“It’s day to day,” Manager Don Mattingly said.

Ellis, who was slowed for three days by an oblique strain in spring training, said he felt a twinge during batting practice Wednesday and took two nights off to try to let things calm down.

“It’s very, very mild,” he said. “It’s tough to do baseball things. Hopefully I can be patient and the Dodgers can be patient. I’ll lose three or four days and we’ll put this behind us.”

Ellis is hitting .262, but he is tied for the team lead in walks with 22 and he’s averaging 4.4 pitches per plate appearance, the second-best figure in the majors. He makes his biggest impact behind the plate, where he has thrown out a baseball-best 54% of would-be base-stealers.

But there’s another reason why the Dodgers would like a quick resolution on Ellis’ availability: As long as he stays on the active roster but is unable to play, the team doesn’t have the roster flexibility to call up a center fielder to replace Matt Kemp, who is on the disabled list because of a right hamstring strain. Kemp, who will be out at least two more weeks, has gone to the Dodgers’ facility in Glendale, Ariz., to get treatment.

Andre Ethier played in center Thursday and Skip Schumaker filled in there Friday, but Mattingly said he’d prefer a more permanent solution. One option would be Yasiel Puig, the Cuban defector who nearly won a roster spot after an impressive spring training.

After Kemp went down, Puig, normally a left fielder, played consecutive games in center for double-A Chattanooga in what was clearly an audition for the Dodgers. Puig hit .355 in his last 10 games and leads the Southern League in batting (.313).

Short hops

Hanley Ramirez, in his second stint on the DL this season, this time with a left hamstring strain, began a rehab assignment with Class-A Rancho Cucamonga on Friday. He played shortstop and had a walk and drove in a run in his first three plate appearances The Dodgers called right-handed reliever Peter Moylan from triple-A Albuquerque and optioned right-hander Javy Guerra back to the minors. To create a spot for Moylan on the 40-man roster, left-hander Scott Elbert, who is on a minor league rehab assignment, was moved to the 60-day DL The Dodgers are among a handful of teams interested in right-hander Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez, a 26-year-old former Cuban national team star who defected last winter.

kevin.baxter@latimes.com

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