The Los Angeles Dodgers enter play Thursday night with the best record in baseball despite going most of April without Cody Bellinger in the lineup and Mookie Betts twice dealing with a minor injury.
There was early optimism Bellinger would potentially be activated off the 10-day injured list for the series with the San Diego Padres last weekend, but that was effectively ruled out when an additional scan of his left leg revealed a hairline fracture in his left fibula.
Bellinger had originally been diagnosed with a left calf contusion after being spiked on April 5. “First MRI didn’t show anything. There was a lot of inflammation in there. The next morning was pretty rough, but I got the MRI and it said it’s just bruising and swelling and pain tolerance from there,” Bellinger explained.
“I progressed pretty good the first few days and then when I started to do some activity, there was sharp pain going on. I was like, ‘I don’t think this is just some bruising and swelling. I think there’s something else going on. I hope it is. I hope it’s just painful.’
“But ended up getting a CT scan and it showed a little fracture in it, so it made sense what I was feeling with the jogging, running and everything. The rehab honestly is the same. It’s all pain tolerance. I’ve just got to wait for that bone to heal and them I’m ready to go.”
Bellinger planned to take batting practice with the Dodgers on the field prior to the series opener against the Padres. To this point he has been limited to running in a pool, hitting in a cage and throwing.
“It’s just a slow process. It’s more so pain tolerance at this point. I’ve been in the training room, working out. I can’t really do much until the bone heals, which takes… I don’t really know. It depends on each person,” Bellinger said.
“But once that bone heals up, from what I’ve been told, you’re ready to go from there. I’ve been hitting in the cage and playing catch every day, just so I’m staying baseball ready. So once my bone is good to go, I’m ready to play.”
Because Bellinger is beholden to his bone simply healing, when he might return remains unknown. “It’s a super strange thing,” he said. “Talked to a few people that have had it, they said you’ll wake up one day and it’ll be, ‘Oh, I’m ready to run.’ It’s just one of those things.”
Bellinger is feeling some discomfort when running, but pain isn’t much of a factor at this point. He may report to the Dodgers’ alternate training site at Camelback Ranch to log at-bats against live pitching prior to being reinstated.
Bellinger relates to Tatis Jr.
Prior to his fibula fracture, Bellinger was on the mend from offseason surgery to address his right shoulder being susceptible to dislocation. It’s a similar injury Padres star Fernando Tatis Jr. is now managing.
“I don’t necessarily know exactly what he did compared to what I did. I just know that if it ever comes out, once you put it back in, the next few days are extremely sore and tight,” Bellinger said.
“But like I said, I don’t know exactly what he did. I can picture what he’s feeling and you can definitely play through it. … I do a shoulder program, so I guess that’s taking care of it. I do it on both shoulders, kind of like a pitcher.
“They have their shoulder program, and I kind of do the same thing just to keep my shoulders strong and my scaps strong.”
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