A top Los Angeles Dodgers prospect suffered an injury Monday while trying to avoid the designated bat dog.
Kendall George, rated as the No. 13 prospect in the Dodgers’ system, suffered a knee injury while facing the Double-A Tulsa Drillers. George was returning to the dugout after scoring on a single, and had to awkwardly jump to avoid the Drillers’ bat dog, who was going out to retrieve a discarded bat.
Replays showed that George was visibly angry and unable to put any weight on his right leg after the incident. He was removed from the game.
He also appeared to be limping and was removed from the game after he tried to avoid a collision with the bat dog, which seems important. https://t.co/5DH1BemaFg pic.twitter.com/CzS5GVaqA6
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) May 26, 2026
Initial tests on the knee were “not positive,” according to Fabian Ardaya and Jesús Cano of The Athletic. However, the organization is still waiting on the official results to make a determination on the next course of action.
Bat dogs are a somewhat common phenomenon at the minor league level. Predictably, the dogs sometimes do not do their job quite to perfection, but this is the first instance we have seen of one actually inadvertently injuring another player.
George was the Dodgers’ first-round pick in the 2023 draft. He is hitting .333 with an .814 OPS and 26 stolen bases so far on the season.
