It’s never a matter of if but rather a matter of when and who will become the first spring training injury casualty every year and for 2014 the when is now and the who is a significant one.

In only the second official day of camp, Dodgers top pitching prospect and 2010 first round draft pick Zach Lee was shut down for what is being diagnosed as a strained latissimus dorsi (aka: lat) muscle.

During spring training 2013, Lee received some one-on-one tutoring from the best there ever was.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Ironically, the injury reportedly occurred two weeks ago while the 22-year-old right-hander was doing, of all things, pull-ups during the Dodgers annual ‘Young Guns’ development camp at Camelback Ranch – a camp that is designed to help get the franchise’s top prospects prepared for the up-coming spring training camp.

Lee, who was scratched from his first scheduled spring training bullpen session on Monday morning, was visibly disappointed in the Dodgers clubhouse after only the second official day of workouts (he worked out on his own with several other prospects on Saturday). This is Lee’s first major league spring training camp and the injury could cause him to open the 2014 on the disabled list for either the Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts or the Triple-A Albuquerque Isotopes.

Even though the McKinney, Texas native suffered the injury two weeks ago, he wasn’t the earliest Dodger pitcher to be shut down at a spring training camp. That dubious honor belongs to former Dodgers starting pitcher Dana Eveland who, in spring training 201, lasted all of 15 minutes into camp before straining his left hamstring during morning stretching exercises – an injury that forced him to spend most of the 2011 season at Triple-A Albuquerque. Eveland was eventually traded to the Orioles in exchange for left-handed pitching prospect Jarret Martin and outfield prospect Tyler Henson. Interestingly enough, Martin was also at the Young Guns development camp and is also attending his first big league spring training camp.

Although a time frame has not yet been announced as to how long Lee will be shut down, lat injuries tend to take upwards of a month to heal, which means that Lee will most likely miss all of spring training 2014 and will basically have to start his spring training over from scratch when he has fully recovered.

With the recent signing of veteran free agent left-hander Paul Maholm and with two-time World Series champion Josh Beckett both competing for the Dodgers fifth and final starting rotation spot, Lee was a long-shot to make the opening day roster for the Dodgers anyway – but he was definitely in the mix. Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti and manager Don Mattingly had both said earlier that they anticipated seeing Lee make his MLB debut at some point during the 2014 season, which could still happen – but now probably not as soon as Lee had hoped.