As Clayton Kershaw continues his recovery to rejoin the Los Angeles Dodgers before the season ends, he was able to take a step forward in the rehab process.
Kershaw has been on the injured list since July 7 after he was diagnosed with left forearm inflammation but the MRI did not show any structural damage in his arm.
On Tuesday, the 33-year-old southpaw threw a bullpen session at Petco Park in San Diego, which brought a lot of energy to Kershaw and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts because it was an important progression.
“I’m excited. I think we’re all excited. Clayton was excited to get off the mound and feel good,” Roberts said.
“I think the normal progression — and again, Mark and the medical guys know more than I do as far as the progression — but I would say in a few days he’ll probably get off a mound again and spin some balls.
“As we can start using his entire mix, getting up to that 32-pitch which is a normal bullpen session, with 100% effort, we’ll start getting closer. But [Tuesday] was a big step for all of us.”
Roberts said he was able to watch Kershaw throw the bullpen and that “it was really good,” which is an encouraging sign for the organization and their hopes to repeat as World Series champions.
“Twenty pitches, the delivery looked fluid. Talked to him just briefly afterwards, he felt pretty good about it,” Roberts said.
“I’d say right now it’s catch play [Wednesday], see how it responds and then we’ll do another ‘pen where we can start spinning the baseball a little bit. As far as today, 20 pitches, fastball command, and looked really good.”
When could Kershaw come back?
As for the timetable of Kershaw’s recovery, he is not eligible to be activated until Sept. 5 because he is currently on the 60-day IL, but Roberts does expect him to be back sometime in September.
“I hope and expect him to be pitching for us sometime next month. Best-case scenario is he’s making a couple starts in September,” Roberts said. “That’s kind of the best-case scenario, and we’ll see how it plays out.”
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