When Andre Ethier was diagnosed with a right tibia fracture last March, he was projected to miss 10 to 14 weeks. Ethier was not reinstated from the 60-day disabled list until Sept. 10, 2016. It wasn’t until Spring Training of this year that he felt fully recovered from the leg injury.
Thus far, 2017 has largely been a repeat of a frustrating 2016 for Ethier. He was hampered by back pain and eventually underwent an MRI that revealed a herniated disc. Ethier and the Dodgers considered the injury to be relatively minor.
However, outside of only recently beginning to swing a bat, Ethier has refrained from baseball activities.
During an interview with David Vassegh of AM 570 L.A. Sports Radio, the veteran outfielder provided some details of his recovery process:
“It’s a week-by-week basis. It’s one of those things where we are trying to move as fast as we can, but it’s a symptoms-based thing. We run one day, throw one day, hit one day. And then try to add two of those exercises in the next day, then progress to all three in one day. You’re just kind of waiting for the clock to kick over for the next day to be able to try and do something else and make sure you feel good the next morning going forward. … I’m trying to get back as soon as possible. That’s our gameplan.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts recently intimated Ethier would not join the club until June. Though, that projection was under the assumption all goes well over the coming weeks.
With the prolonged time missed, Ethier essentially needs to go through a second Spring Training. This season could be his last with the Dodgers. The team holds a $17.5 million option for 2018, which includes a $2.5 million buyout.
