Ellis (hand) is available off the bench Thursday, the Los Angeles Times' Dylan Hernandez reports. He left Wednesday's game with a minor hand injury, but was able to throw before Thursday's game and should be back behind the dish for the Dodgers sometime in the near future. Yasmani Grandal will get the start Thursday.

Ellis' x-rays were negative after he left Wednesday's game with a hand injury, Eric Stephen of True Blue LA reports. Consider him day-to-day. The x-rays will be further evaluated this week, but for now it appears any sort of major injury was avoided. He's likely day-to-day pending further examination.

Ellis is 5-for-26 (.192) with a home run this spring and still appears to be in line to function as the team's #2 catcher behind Yasmani Grandal. At this point, one guess as to a playing time split would be 70/30 in favor of Grandal, but Grandal is hitting just .211 himself.

Ellis agreed to a one-year, $4.25 million contract with the Dodgers on Tuesday, CBS Sports reports. Ellis will avoid arbitration and return to the Dodgers in 2015, when he's expected to serve as the primary backup to Yasmani Grandal. Ellis has averaged 114 games with the Dodgers over the last three seasons but experienced his fair share of struggles last season, as he hit just .191 with 25 RBI in 93 contests.

Ellis is out of the lineup Friday against the Rockies. Ellis will take a seat after starting four straight games behind the plate for the Dodgers. Drew Butera will start in his place and bat eighth for the Dodgers on Friday.

Ellis is out of the lineup Saturday against the Cubs. After hitting just one homer in his first 86 games of the season, Ellis improbably launched two in Friday's 14-5 thrashing of Chicago. He'll get what looks like a rest Saturday, with the Dodgers playing another early afternoon game, as Drew Butera steps in to catch starter Roberto Hernandez.

Ellis went 2-for-4 with a pair of two-run homers in Friday afternoon's 14-5 drubbing of the Cubs. Carrying a meager .235 slugging percentage into the contest, Ellis erupted for not one but two roundtrippers versus the Cubs. It is not too often that a player triples his homer total for the season in just one game, but that is exactly what the veteran backstop accomplished Friday afternoon.

Ellis is out of the lineup Wednesday against the Rockies. Ellis will take a seat for Wednesday's day game following five straight games behind the plate. Tim Federowicz will catch Carlos Frias in his place and will bat seventh for the Dodgers.

Ellis is out of the lineup Sunday against the Diamondbacks. Ellis has caught back-to-back games for the Dodgers, but will sit in favor of Drew Butera for the Sunday afternoon tilt.

Ellis is out of the lineup Wednesday against the Nationals. Ellis will take the customary catcher's day off for the day game Wednesday. Tim Federowicz will relieve him of his duties behind the plate and bat eighth for the Dodgers.