The Los Angeles Dodgers aren’t certain when Corey Seager may return from a right hand fracture, but by all accounts his recovery process continues to go well.
Seager has been on the 10-day injured list since May 16 after he was hit by a pitch from Miami Marlins left-hander Ross Detweiler.
“Right now, and I don’t want to put a timeline on it, but it is quicker than I would’ve expected,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of the rate at which Seager’s hand has healed.
“You’ve got a young body that certainly heals pretty quickly and an eager player, so that kind of lends itself to that.”
Seager is still at least multiple weeks away from returning to the team. However, once he starts taking full swings, a return could come quickly because Seager has been staying active while on the IL.
“I think when you start taking the two-handed swings, given the fact that he’s already done a lot of rotation stuff, the core stuff, the one-handed swings, it’s a pretty quick ramp-up,” Roberts noted.
“I’m sure he’s going to be standing in on bullpens to get the gauging of velocity and spinning of the baseball. Once you get started with that, a couple weeks, it should happen.”
Seager has also been undergoing weekly scans to see how the fracture is healing.
“The scan, as I understand it, there’s more healing with the fracture, so that’s a good thing,” Roberts said. “Corey has been working really hard with the medical staff.”
This season, the reigning World Series MVP has hit .265/.361/.422 with a 121 wRC+ and four home runs in 37 games.
Garrett Cleavinger begins rehab assignment
As the Dodgers wait for Seager’s return, left-handed relief pitcher Garrett Cleavinger began his rehab assignment with Triple-A Oklahoma City on Monday.
In one inning, Cleavinger struck out one and walked one. He was placed on the IL on May 18 due to left forearm inflammation.
Roberts said Cleavinger would make multiple appearances before the club decided the next course of action. That conceivably could be an activation and option to Oklahoma City, which the Dodgers did with Brusdar Graterol.
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