It wasn’t too long ago where the Los Angeles Dodgers appeared to be a couple of weeks from adding Hyun-Jin Ryu to their starting rotation. Ryu was in the process of completing a rehab assignment, then suffered an all-too-familiar setback after his May 25 start.
The outing was Ryu’s third, but his most extensive work since last year’s surgery to repair the torn labrum in his left shoulder. After throwing 55 pitches over four innings and an additional 10 pitches on the side, Ryu reported soreness in his throwing shoulder that forced his rehab to be shut down.
After estimating he was inactive for one week, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said on Saturday that Ryu is throwing long toss from 90 to 120 feet. However, it remains unclear when the southpaw may see a Major League mound.
“We shut him down for a little bit and now we want to crank him back up,” Roberts said. “But there isn’t a timetable (for Ryu’s return).”
Roberts previously suggested how quickly Ryu is able to overcome the latest setback is dependent on his pain threshold. One positive to take away from the stop and go is it didn’t completely reset the recovery clock.
“[Throwing program] will be a little more accelerated, because he was further along,” Roberts said. However, he added Ryu will need to make at least four rehab starts once he’s ready for game action.
Meanwhile, Brandon McCarthy, who recently bounced back from a minor snag in his recovery from Tommy John surgery, will face live hitters in a simulated game in the coming days.
“It’ll be three innings or 60 pitches,” Roberts said. Assuming all goes well, McCarthy will throw another sim-game before beginning a rehab assignment. Even under the best-case scenario for McCarthy and Ryu, it’s difficult to envision either of them returning prior to the All-Star break.
