The Los Angeles Dodgers’ starting rotation was bolstered with the returns of Rich Hill and Kenta Maeda over the past week, but a quartet of key pitchers still remain on the disabled list for the time being.
The group includes Clayton Kershaw, who’s scheduled to make a rehab start for Triple-A Oklahoma City on Saturday, as well as Walker Buehler, Dennis Santana and Julio Urias.
For Urias, he has been shelved since undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery in 2017. However, the left-hander made significant strides in his recovery last month after throwing off a mound for the first time since the operation.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts recently revealed that Urias has continued throwing bullpen sessions but still isn’t near a return, via Andy McCullough of the L.A. Times:
Julio Urias continues to throw bullpen sessions as he recovers from surgery he underwent last year to repair the anterior capsule in his left shoulder. Other than that, Roberts had little else in the way of updates about the organization’s former top pitching prospect. “It’s just too far away for me to keep track of,” Roberts said.
Roberts had initially hoped that Urias would be ready for game action by the end of July, but that no longer appears to be a given.
The former top pitching prospect is a ways off from returning to game action, as he presumably still needs to rebuild his arm strength before potentially going on a rehab assignment in the Minors.
Still just 21 years old, Urias could offer an intriguing option for the Dodgers in the stretch run. He has experience as both a starting pitcher and reliever in the Majors, so he could hypothetically take on any role asked of him, assuming his recovery goes along as planned.
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