The Los Angeles Dodgers have been impressed with the quick progress that Clayton Kershaw has made in his recovery from offseason shoulder surgery.
Kershaw’s initial timeline placed him within the range of an August return, but he currently seems poised to begin a rehab assignment with weeks remaining in June.
He has already completed multiple simulated games in recent weeks and he completed another one at Dodger Stadium on Thursday.
Kershaw’s fastball velocity measured up well as it sat around where the Dodgers expect it to be during Spring Training, and he began to reincorporate more of his arsenal into his throwing sessions, according to Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior was Kershaw’s velocity was “88-89 (mph)” during the simulated session – “pretty much where he’s at, normal for all of his live BPs” during spring training. Kershaw even mixed in some two-seam fastballs and changeups – pitches that have been a very limited part of his arsenal in the past.
The Dodgers were eager to bring Kershaw back into the fold during free agency for another go-round with the club. It was one of many moves to bring in plenty of depth at the position after some disastrous luck with injuries in 2023.
Even though the Dodgers were excited to have Kershaw back, they were realistic in their expectations for his recovery and didn’t take it as a guarantee:
“Yeah. I mean, I think you hear, okay, he’ll be back next year and you don’t really know,” Prior said. “I think we’ve been through enough surgical repairs. (But) shoulders are completely different animals than Tommy Johns.”
“I do think he’s progressed really well. And knock on wood, it’s been kind of a nice, steady trend line up to get to this point. Hopefully that continues. And I think if that continues, yeah, I think we’re all gonna be pleasantly surprised it was a little sooner than later.”
With Kershaw likely beginning a rehab assignment for his next outing, that places him roughly one month away from returning, as long as everything continues to go well.
Dave Roberts speaks on Clayton Kershaw’s sim game
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had a positive takeaway from Kershaw’s workout on Thursday and he liked what he saw stuff wise.
“It was good. Three innings, faced a couple of our guys and we brought another guy from Rancho,” Roberts said. “I thought the stuff was good. Obviously, it’s hard to kind of get as much out of it because there’s not a lot of adrenaline.”
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