The Los Angeles Dodgers received some tough news this past week when star pitcher Clayton Kershaw was placed on the 10-day injured list with left forearm inflammation.
Kershaw, who has an extensive injury history, had stayed healthy throughout the first half of the season and was in the midst of another strong year. In 18 starts, Kershaw is 9-7 with a 3.39 ERA, 3.00 FIP and 0.98 WHIP with 127 strikeouts and 19 walks in 106.1 innings.
Dave Roberts revealed that he felt something in his elbow playing catch between starts though, which led to him being placed on the IL in order to get another pitcher on the active roster given the team’s depleted starting rotation and bullpen at the moment.
While Roberts did not express too much concern about Kershaw’s injury and actually thought the timing worked out well with the All-Star break coming out, the team was still cautious and made sure the southpaw got an MRI when they got back to L.A.
Roberts revealed the results of that MRI ahead of Friday night’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks and it was good news.
“Clayton had an MRI this morning and just like we expected, it was just inflammation and he’s gonna start playing catch again tomorrow and enjoy the break with his family and we’ll figure out when in the second half we’ll pencil him back into our rotation,” Roberts said.
As far as when Kershaw will get back on a mound, Roberts isn’t exactly sure yet.
“I think it’s all contingent on today and then we’ll kind of know more as he plays catch. But I think for us, just making sure that we get that inflammation to dissipate and go from there.”
Despite it being unclear when Kershaw will return, this is still big news for the Dodgers, who are already without another key starter in Trevor Bauer and that’s after losing another rotation member in Dustin May to Tommy John surgery earlier in the season.
Even though Kershaw avoided serious injury, the Dodgers will likely remain cautious given there’s still half of a season to go and elbow injuries are not something to play around with.
Roberts couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief after hearing the news though.
“I think that we all felt that there was gonna be nothing from it but just to get confirmation certainly is a very good thing.”
Kershaw dealing with soreness in eblow
As far as what Kershaw is actually dealing with, the inflammation isn’t exactly causing pain, rather just soreness in his elbow, which is still a new feeling for the 14-year veteran.
“It was soreness and he’s never had soreness in his elbow so we just wanted to kind of check all the boxes and make sure there was nothing else to it and fortunately, there wasn’t,” Roberts concluded.
Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? It’s the best way to watch player interviews, exclusive coverage from events and more!
