Yoshinobu Yamamoto made his last start for the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 15, throwing just two innings before exiting with an injury.
The initial diagnosis was right triceps tightness, which is something Yamamoto reported leading up to his start. He then went on the 15-day injured list because of a right rotator cuff strain.
Now almost a month removed from the injury, Yamamoto is believed to be progressing well, and he’s no longer dealing with pain.
That allowed Yamamoto to begin his throwing program, which started with some catch play, according to Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
Yoshinobu Yamamoto has begun a throwing program this week. Roberts said the Japanese right-hander has started playing catch from 60 feet.
Yamamoto was one of the Dodgers most effective starters before he suffered the injury, and their list of injured pitchers has only grown.
Tyler Glasnow, Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler, Dustin May and Emmet Sheehan are all on the IL as well, and while some of those were expected, their rotation depth and overall talent has also taken a major hit.
Bobby Miller was also optioned to Triple-A due to his struggles, and the Dodgers’ rotation currently consists of Gavin Stone, James Paxton, Landon Knack and Justin Wrobleski, a far cry from what they expected it to be this year.
While the Dodgers could benefit from rushing Yamamoto back in the short term, the team is undoubtedly placing a high priority on his availability down the stretch because of his talent and need.
His timeline remains uncertain, but it’s a positive step for the 25-year-old.
Yamamoto was 6-2 with a 2.92 ERA, 2.66 FIP, 1.07 WHIP and 10.2 strikeouts per nine in 74 innings pitched over 14 starts prior to landing on the IL.
Why did Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitch with triceps tightness?
Yamamoto’s start against the Royals was pushed back two days partly because of right triceps soreness that emerged after throwing a season-high 106 pitches against the New York Yankees.
There were reports that Yamamoto informed Dodgers pitching coaches of tightness during warmups, but Roberts had no knowledge of the more potentially serious injury. “No, no, no. I didn’t know,” Roberts began.
“He had soreness. From what I understood, he had soreness during the week. Tyler’s going to have soreness during the week, and they get through it, they pitch and they make their starts.
“I knew he had soreness, that’s why we pushed him back, but again, I didn’t know until the second inning that he couldn’t go back out there for the third inning. And so again, if we would have known that he couldn’t pitch, we would have done something about it, but we just didn’t know.”
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