Colorado Rockies Injury News and Updates: Wolters, Murphy, Dahl and Dunn

Ian Desmond has returned to the Colorado Rockies lineup, but the injury bug is still biting the Rockies hard early in the 2017 season.

Catcher Tony Wolters was forced to leave Tuesday night’s Colorado loss in San Diego in the seventh inning after being hit on the helmet and mask by San Diego’s Hector Sanchez. Manager Bud Black said the 24-year-old Wolters was heading into concussion protocol. A decision should be made on Wednesday but it looks like the Rockies will be without Wolters for at least a week to 10 days.

On another note about Colorado catchers, Nick Groke of The Denver Post has reported that catcher Tom Murphy’s broken forearm “is healing slower than the Rockies envisioned.” Now in a soft cast, Murphy seems to be on the shelf until at least the middle of the month.

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With all of that not-so-great news on the Colorado catching front, look for the Rockies to bring up Ryan Hanigan or Anthony Bemboom from Triple-A Albuquerque. With Dustin Garneau as the only healthy catcher currently with the Rockies, Colorado will need some reinforcements behind the plate.

Hanigan was hitting .282 at Triple-A entering Wednesday’s action. He has played in 647 Major League games with Cincinnati, Tampa Bay and Boston and seems to be the front-runner to join the Rockies behind the dish.

Another Colorado player seemingly healing at a slower pace than hoped is outfielder David Dahl. According to Groke, Murphy is expected back in a Colorado uniform before Dahl.

That’s a disappointing turn for one of the players who was expected to impact the Rockies greatly in 2017. Without Dahl, Gerardo Parra will continue to see the majority of work in the outfield with Desmond taking some reps at the position as well.

The Rockies need some good news on the injury front and it looks like that will come in the form of relief pitcher Mike Dunn. The 31-year-old southpaw has been on the disabled list since April 23 with back spasms. However, he told Groke that he now “feels great.” After getting in some side work to test his back in San Diego and passing that test, Dunn is expected to come off the disabled list in time for Wednesday’s game against the Padres.

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With a 2-0 mark and 1.17 ERA, Dunn has been a key piece of Colorado’s bullpen resurgence this season. With Colorado looking for any piece of good news on the injury front, he will be a welcome sight back in the bullpen.