Evan Phillips is set to come off the injured list tomorrow, a long-awaited step back for the Dodgers reliever after Tommy John surgery wiped out most of his 2025 season and all of 2026 so far. Dave Roberts said Phillips will be activated off the injured list tomorrow, turning a rehab assignment at Triple-A into a roster move the Dodgers have been waiting months to make.
The timing matters because Phillips is not just returning from surgery; he is returning with a real path back into leverage work. He has spent the last month at Triple-A, where he logged a 1.80 ERA in 10 innings over 12 appearances and struck out hitters at a 28.9% clip. The numbers point to a pitcher who has found something close to his old shape again, which is why his activation is landing now instead of later in the summer.
That was not a given when the year began. Phillips opened 2025 on the 15-day injured list with a right rotator cuff strain, made seven appearances after his April 19 debut, and then underwent Tommy John surgery in May. He missed the rest of 2025 and all of 2026 to date, a stretch that erased more than a year from a bullpen arm the Dodgers had once leaned on heavily. From 2022-24, he threw 179 innings with a 2.21 ERA and saved 44 games, production that explains why the club moved to bring him back on a one-year, $6.5 million deal after non-tendering him at the end of 2025.
His return still does not answer the most important bullpen question. Tanner Scott has held the closer role since Edwin Díaz went on the IL in April for loose bodies in his elbow, and Scott has handled it with a 2.02 ERA in 35 2/3 innings and a 32.1% K-BB rate. That leaves Phillips entering a bullpen that already has a late-inning hierarchy, which makes it more likely he eases in with medium-leverage work before the Dodgers decide whether his old role should be part of the mix again.
There is also reason to think the Dodgers will be careful. Phillips has been walking more hitters than he should be, even as his four-seamer and slider have come back to their pre-injury velocities. That is the kind of detail that usually shapes workload after a long arm rehab: the stuff can be back before the command is fully settled, and teams tend to protect that progress by avoiding back-to-back overuse right away. The practical result is that his first outings may come with limits, not because the arm is not ready, but because the club has every reason to keep him fresh for later.
Phillips’ activation gives the Dodgers another experienced option at exactly the moment they need one, but the bullpen picture around him is still shifting. Díaz faced live hitters in a pregame session today for the first time since his surgery and hopes to be activated not long after the All-Star break, which means the bullpen could look different again before the month is over. For now, Phillips is the one coming back first, and the Dodgers will get their first look at how much of his old high-leverage value has survived the injury and the wait.
