As he prepares for his 18th season with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Clayton Kershaw completed his first rehab start of the year on Wednesday with three scoreless innings for Triple-A Oklahoma City.
Kershaw is currently on the 60-day injured list as he recovers from offseason left toe and knee procedures. As such, he’s not eligible to be activated off the IL until May 17, though the Kershaw’s most recent projection had a return date of sometime in June.
His outing on Wednesday was quite the success, with Kershaw even throwing an extra inning from what was initially planned. The start also offered a glimpse of a possible shift in Kershaw’s pitch usage for 2025, with more changeups and a sinker that emphasizes horizontal movement as potential options.
While Kershaw has a plan for how he wants to utilize his sinker, he wants to build more confidence in his changeup if he is to throw it with a lot more regularity this season.
“I don’t know,” Kershaw said about potentially throwing both pitches more this season. “I want it to be more of a runner, not a sinker. Kind of go straight across to lefties. Right now my changeup feels OK, so we’ll see if that lasts. For right now, I feel like I can at least throw it a little bit.
“I’d like to be able to, but we’ll see.”
Albeit his 2024 season is a small sample size, Kershaw did not throw many sinkers or changeups. He threw six sinkers, two changeups, and 21 pitches that Baseball Savant classified as splitters.
Looking back to 2023 offers similar results over a larger sample, with five sinkers, 33 changeups and seven splitters.
Kershaw’s trademark slider certainly isn’t going anywhere, as he utilized it a ton in his first rehab start.
“There were some that had the right bite on it and some that I’d want to have back. I think overall there were some good throws in there, for sure,” he said.
And as for his fastball, which sat around 87-88 mph, Kershaw was not satisfied.
Clayton Kershaw’s first rehab start ‘good step forward’
When it comes to sensing how well rehab is progressing, Kershaw’s primary focus is on how his body is feeling while on the mound. Secondarily, he observes how good his stuff looks against the competition. His outing on Wednesday was a success on both fronts, but he also admits that he has some things to cleanup.
“I think anytime in rehab, you want to feel healthy, which I do. I felt good today,” he said. “And then you want to see your stuff obviously play. I got some quick outs, which was good. There’s some things I need to work on still, but for the first one, overall it was a good step forward.”
As for the big toe on his left foot which is the last hurdle that has been giving him trouble, it seems to be under control. Kershaw even climbed the bullpen fence to throw more pitches after coming out of game.
“It feels good. I think I broke the gate back there, so sorry about that. But I feel good,” he said.
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