The Los Angeles Dodgers pitching staff has been among the best in baseball despite a rash of injuries, and now the next handful of weeks could see the return Blake Treinen and other key contributors.
Treinen threw a bullpen session at Dodger Stadium on Saturday, his fifth since being placed on the 10-day injured list April 22 due to right shoulder discomfort. Treinen was then transferred to the 60-day IL on May 17.
“Really good. Came out really well, it was 25 pitches again. That’s kind of my threshold until I go up-down,” Treinen said of his latest throwing session. “You never really want to throw more than 25 in an inning anyways, so I’m practicing right.
“Threw all my pitches, just one misfire when I yanked the four-seamer. Thought everything was commanded really well and good action, felt healthy. Pretty aggressive with my arm. Not full-tilt in my lower half, but the velo was really good. I was really happy with it.”
Treinen expects to throw another bullpen session this week and could then take another step forward in his progression by facing batters, but there’s hesitancy in committing to such a schedule.
“I’m not going to speak ahead of anything because you’ve got to check each day right now,” Treinen said. “Obviously you have a blueprint of when I’m supposed to face hitters, when I’m supposed to break through a rehab, when I’m supposed to come back with the team.
“There’s a blueprint but that doesn’t mean it’s to the T. I just have to check my boxes and focus on getting a good workout, coming back tomorrow to do my work, seeing how I bounce back and then get ready for the next bullpen.”
Treinen confident in health of right shoulder
Neither the Dodgers nor Treinen have offered specifics on the nature of his right shoulder injury, but some of the feeling he was searching for has been found.
“When I was saying I had no conviction, it’s because there was an injury. You can’t go out there and try to push through something when it’s a substantial injury,” Treinen noted. “You’ve got to let it heal and let it build back up like Spring Training to see if there’s integrity.
“I went through some of that and you can see it with four of my five bullpens have been really, really good. I think it’s healed. It’s just a matter of building strength so I don’t get re-injured.”
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