The Los Angeles Dodgers have remained relatively healthy so far this spring, although there has been one key injury that they have been forced to deal with.
After throwing a few bullpens and a live session at the beginning of camp, ace Clayton Kershaw began dealing with shoulder discomfort that forced him to be shut down for several days.
He tried throwing for the first time this past Monday, but the shoulder was still not feeling right so he was shut down again until Thursday. He came out of that session with a lot less discomfort, so the plan was for him to throw again on Friday.
It appears that Kershaw is headed in the right direction as he was able to throw at around 80 percent on in that Friday session and came out of it feeling encouraged, per Rowan Kavner of Dodger Insider
Kershaw also threw Friday, working his way back from a bothersome shoulder. In a second straight day of playing catch, Roberts said Kershaw threw at about 80 percent and felt strong doing it.
“Tomorrow we’re going to stretch him out some more as far as length and intensity and see where it’s at,” Roberts said. “But in talking to him today, we’re pretty encouraged.”
As of now, Kershaw is still expected to be the team’s Opening Day starter and the progress he has made the last couple days is essential if that is going to be the case.
If Kershaw comes out of Saturday’s session feeling well, then the next step would likely be to stretch it out and throw some long toss. From there he would likely throw on flat ground, and then some bullpen sessions before getting into live BP or perhaps a Minor League game.
There is still plenty of time for Kershaw to get stretched out to be ready for Opening Day, but if he were to suffer another setback at this point then that would probably cause him to begin the season on the disabled list.
