Los Angeles Dodgers rookie Walker Buehler got off to an outstanding start to the season, but that, unfortunately, came to an abrupt halt as he suffered a microfracture in his ribs after being hit by a comebacker on May 21.
Buehler demonstrated how tough he is, and actually made three starts after suffering the injury, but it eventually caused him to land on the 10-day disabled list.
The Dodgers are not going to rush their prized right-hander back, especially considering he has an innings limit on him this season, but Buehler seems to be progressing well in his recovery.
He was scheduled to throw a bullpen session on Saturday at Citi Field, although that wound up not happening due to some soreness in his ribs. Buehler was able to throw one on Sunday, and Dodgers pitching coach Rick Honeycutt was impressed with what he saw, via Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
Walker Buehler threw a brief bullpen session. #Dodgers PC Rick Honeycutt said it went “pretty good.” Buehler’s return still TBD though
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) June 24, 2018
The Dodgers’ depleted starting rotation is finally starting to get healthy with Kenta Maeda, Rich Hill and Clayton Kershaw all being activated from the disabled list in the last couple of weeks. They will gladly welcome Buehler back as well when he is healthy enough to return.
In nine starts this season, Buehler is 4-1 with a 2.63 ERA, 2.25 FIP and 0.96 WHIP while striking out 54 and walking 11 in 51.1 innings.
Given that all of the injured starters or getting clean bills of health, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman does not feel that the team needs to acquire a starting pitcher at the moment.
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