It seemed as if the Los Angeles Dodgers set a plan for rookie Walker Buehler’s rehab to build him back up as a starter, saying that he will need at least two rehab starts with High-A Rancho Cucamonga.
He made his first one on Tuesday night, tossing 3+ innings, allowing just one hit while striking out five, which was a very productive outing.
It appears as if he came out of the start feeling healthy as the Dodgers have decided to deviate from their plan once again. According to Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, Buehler will throw a simulated game in Anaheim on Sunday and then will be activated from the disabled list five days after that, via Andy McCullough of the L.A. Times:
Walker Buehler is scheduled to throw five simulated innings Sunday as his final tuneup before being activated on the big league roster, Roberts said.
Buehler was originally supposed to make a rehab start with Triple-A Oklahoma City, but the team instead decided to activate him from the disabled list and throw him into the fire of a big league game.
That didn’t go as planned, with him giving up five runs in just 1+ inning, and came out of the outing feeling sore, prompting him to go back on the disabled list. Buehler came out of Tuesday’s start feeling much better physically though:
“After my last outing here, I was pretty sore, because I hadn’t thrown in a long time,” he said. “Today feels like I threw 45 pitches, not like I threw 1,000.”
If all goes to plan with his simulated game, then Buehler could start on Friday, July 13 at home against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim just before the All-Star break.
Once Buehler returns, the Dodgers will likely go to a six-man rotation at least for a short period of time to keep all of their arms fresh and healthy going into the second half of the season.
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