At the time of undergoing Tommy John surgery in April 2015, the timetable for Brandon McCarthy’s return was set at 12 to 15 months. In the early stages of any sort of throwing program, McCarthy said in January he hoped to make a few starts prior to the 2016 All-Star Game.
While the Dodgers continued to absorb one injury after another to a starting pitcher during Spring Training and into the regular season, McCarthy and Hyun-Jin Ryu were making steady progress down the recovery trail.
Ryu was slightly ahead of the 32-year-old right-hander, but suffered a setback after a rehab start with Triple-A Oklahoma City and had his clock reset. McCarthy also hit a snag, but managed to overcome it within a week in May.
He threw three innings of live batting practice at Dodger Stadium on Monday, with Dodgers manager Dave Roberts among the hitters to face McCarthy. It was initially believed McCarthy would throw another simulated game before beginning a rehab assignment, but Roberts declared after the session that wouldn’t be the case.
Having checked off all the boxes to this point, McCarthy will start on Saturday for High-A Rancho Cucamonga, according to Bill Shaikin of the LA Times:
Brandon McCarthy starts rehab assignment Saturday at Class A Rancho Cucamonga. #dodgers
— Bill Shaikin (@BillShaikin) June 8, 2016
The outing will be McCarthy’s first in a game since April 25, 2015. His rehab assignment is expected to consist of at least five starts, which puts McCarthy’s desired return before the All-Star break into question.
The Dodgers transferred the right-hander to the 60-day disabled list in mid-February to clear room for the signing of relief pitcher Louis Coleman. McCarthy signed a four-year, $48 million contract in December.
He went 3-0 with a 5.87 ERA over four starts before undergoing the season-ending surgery to repair the torn ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing elbow.
