With the Los Angeles Dodgers beginning a three-game road series against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night, it gave them an opportunity to reunite with players who are rehabbing at the club’s Camelback Ranch Spring Training facility.
Brock Stewart, sidelined by shoulder inflammation, joined the Dodgers at Chase Field. He was shut down in the middle of March with the shoulder issue, and two weeks later received a cortisone injection.
The injury removed Stewart from any consideration of making the Dodgers’ rotation, and the shot further delayed his return to a mound. According to Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group, Stewart is expected to soon throw off a mound and is targeting a debut next month:
Stewart is in the long-toss phase of his throwing program and is scheduled to start throwing off a mound next week. Stewart said he has been told May 20 is the target for him to be pitching in games for one of the Dodgers’ minor-league teams.
Stewart presumably would begin a rehab assignment with a lower-level Minor League affiliate, then join Triple-A Oklahoma City. Stewart went 4-0 with a 2.49 ERA, and had 54 strikeouts over nine starts (50.2 innings) with Oklahoma City last season.
He was 2-2 with a 5.79 ERA, 5.90 FIP and 1.61 WHIP in seven games (five starts) for the Dodgers. Stewart made his MLB debut last June, when the club was thin on available starting pitchers.
During the spring he managed to appear in just two Cactus League games, going 0-1 and allowing seven runs on five hits, including a home run, in 3.1 innings. He also hit two batters, walked one, and had one strikeout.
