Walker Buehler attempted a late-season comeback, but ultimately did not pitch for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2023 while recovering from a right flexor tendon repair and second Tommy John surgery.
The right-hander began a rehab assignment with Triple-A Oklahoma City in early September and pitched to encouraging results, but plans for a second start were cancelled when Buehler announced his focus had shifted to getting healthy for 2024.
Buehler is looking to join a select group of pitchers who have made it back to the Majors after undergoing two Tommy John operations. Chief among them is Nathan Eovaldi, who just won his second World Series championship with the Texas Rangers.
During an appearance on “Roggin and Rodney” show, Buehler said he is encouraged by Eovaldi’s success since returning from the two Tommy John procedures:
“Yeah, Nathan is kind of the prototype I guess. Obviously, playing with Daniel Hudson and Caleb Ferguson as well. I think this surgery has come so far in the past 20, 30, 40 years. I don’t think the elbow is really the concern now. It’s just getting back into game shape, recovering, being able to throw every five days and things like that.”
Eovaldi underwent his first Tommy John surgery in May 2007 during his junior year of high school. The Dodgers would go on to select him in the 11th round of the 2008 MLB Draft.
Eovaldi later had a second Tommy John operation in August 2016 as a member of the New York Yankees. He would miss the entire 2017 season, but returned to a big league mound the following year with the Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox, and played a key role in the latter’s World Series run.
Buehler is entering his final year of salary arbitration before potentially becoming a free agent after the 2024 season.
Walker Buehler ‘enjoyed’ podcast appearances
Despite not making it back to the Majors this past season, Buehler remained active as a weekly guest on the “Just Baseball Show” and “enjoyed” sharing his thoughts on some of the sport’s biggest topics.
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