After a brief stint in the bullpen to end his 2017 campaign, Los Angeles Dodgers top prospect Walker Buehler will reprise his role as a starting pitcher for the 2018 season.
When pitchers and catchers reported to Camelback Ranch last week, Buehler was expected to participate in workouts and begin throwing off the mound. That wasn’t the case, however, as he was held back from his first bullpen session of the spring because of complications with his physical exam.
Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman then revealed that Buehler was experiencing back discomfort as a result of a throwing program in January, which further pushed back his bullpen session.
The 22-year-old finally threw off the mound off the mound without a setback on Monday, and Buehler is now expected to do so again later this week, via Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
With the catcher a few feet in front of the plate, Buehler threw fastballs and breaking balls in Monday’s session, which he said was about “two-thirds” the volume of throws of a normal bullpen session. He said he felt fine afterward and expects to throw off a mound again Thursday.
That Buehler felt fine afterward is a positive development for the Dodgers, who will once again lean on their pitching depth this season. Teammate Alex Wood also saw his initial bullpen session delayed after tweaking his right ankle during workouts, but he has since returned to the mound and resumed baseball-related activities.
Earlier this offseason, general manager Farhan Zaidi admitted that the Dodgers will be conservative with Buehler in Spring Training, which makes sense given he’s less than three years removed from Tommy John surgery and still building an innings base.
The Dodgers plan to limit Buehler’s workload in the early going, so he’ll be better suited for an extended role during the second half of the season.
