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          Dodgers Report

          Prospect Hector Olivera out with a strained hamstring

          • Mark Saxon, ESPN Staff WriterJun 23, 2015, 07:18 PM ET
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              Mark Saxon covers the St. Louis Cardinals for ESPN.com. He served as the Dodgers team reporter for ESPNLosAngeles.com. through the 2015 season. He spent six years at the Orange County Register, and began his career at the Oakland Tribune, where he started an 11-year journey covering Major League Baseball. He has also covered colleges, including USC football and UCLA basketball.
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          CHICAGO – The Los Angeles Dodgers have played .436 baseball and averaged 3.4 runs per game since May 12 and now their most logical choice for an outside spark is no longer an option for a while.

          Infielder Hector Olivera, the 30-year-old Cuban who agreed to a $62.5 million contract in March, has a strained left hamstring and has left the Dodgers’ Triple-A Oklahoma City team to get physical therapy in Arizona, manager Don Mattingly announced Tuesday. The team placed Olivera on the seven-day disabled list.

          “They’re calling it slight, Grade 1, so I’m assuming it will be fairly short,” Mattingly said. “We never really had a true timetable, so I don’t know if it changes it any, but it’s less time playing, obviously it changes it a little bit.”

          The chances of Olivera arriving before the All-Star break would appear now to be minimal. In 13 games between Double-A Tulsa and Oklahoma City, Olivera was batting .358 with a .921 OPS. The Dodgers have employed Alberto Callaspo, batting .230, as their primary backup for third baseman Justin Turner because they don’t trust Alex Guerrero’s defense.

          Olivera’s injury now puts the spotlight on shortstop Corey Seager, 21, the Dodgers’ top position-player prospect, who is batting .288 with a .783 OPS for Oklahoma City. The team would prefer that Seager get more time to adjust to the more advanced pitching and the faster pace of play at Triple-A before promoting him. Dodgers shortstop Jimmy Rollins, 36, is batting .211.