The Los Angeles Dodgers are into a second week of Spring Training workouts at Camelback Ranch, which have seen several pitchers throwing bullpen sessions as they prepare for Cactus League play and the regular season.
One notable named who has not thrown yet is top prospect Walker Buehler, who recently missed a day of workouts to undergo blood tests after his initial physical. Buehler was cleared able to return to the field the following day.
Beyond the blood tests, however, it appears the young right-hander is dealing with another injury. Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman revealed Buehler has yet to throw a bullpen session because of back discomfort that cropped up in January and delayed his throwing program, according to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
“This was muscle discomfort, so we’re just being cautious and it pushed back his program a little bit,” Friedman said. “We ran tests, everything’s fine. But we have the luxury of time right now. So by delaying things in January, it had a snowball effect. He’s been aggressively doing flat-ground work. The natural progression is then to get on the mound soon. I don’t know exactly when, but he’s doing well.”
While it is obviously not ideal, the Dodgers were already planning to limit Buehler’s workload this spring, and he will be on an innings restriction in 2018.
This season will be Buehler’s second full year coming off Tommy John surgery. The Dodgers had already expressed a preference to ease him into matters early on, so as to have him available for a larger role down the stretch of the season.
Buehler saw his first Major League action in 2017 but he did not have much success pitching out of the bullpen as a September call-up. He posted a 7.71 ERA in eight games, although he did strikeout 12 batters while walking eight in 9.1 innings.
Buehler will return to his traditional’s role as a starter this season.
