After missing a significant portion of 2022 and all of 2023 due to a second career Tommy John surgery, Walker Buehler made his return to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2024.
Prior to the beginning of the season, his return to the rotation was seen as more of a luxury thanks to all of the starting pitching depth the organization gathered in the offseason. But due to injuries, there was a spot in the rotation up for grabs by the time he made his debut on May 6.
Buehler showed brief flashes during this initial stretch, but for the most part he struggled and the reality that he needed to evolve as a pitcher was clear. He was also battling through some lingering discomfort as he was placed on the injured list a little over a month later with right hip inflammation.
He took this time to work through his issues away from the team at a facility in Florida, which received support from manager Dave Roberts and the Dodgers organization.
After almost two years away from the game and a hip injury in 2024, Buehler found himself searching for his foundation as a pitcher. His health, lack of clean mechanics, and mental struggles contributed to him feeling lost on the mound.
Buehler knew that he needed to get back to basics and build from there, via Bill Plunkett of The Southern California News Group:
“I have absolute faith in every part of our organization,” he said. “If my foot was broken then we’d fix it. But it was that and mechanics and the mental part of it. It’s hard if you don’t have a baseline. I felt like that’s where I was at. I needed to go and re-establish my baseline.”
Over the course of the season, the luxury of having Buehler on the roster became a necessity as the Dodgers found themselves with a paper-thin rotation. Suddenly, his recovery and ability to be an effective pitcher was of the upmost importance.
He returned from the injured list on August 14, which left him about two months to settle in on the mound facing Major League hitters before the start of the postseason.
There were a couple of hiccups in September, but overall he had a promising final month of the regular season. That included a solid five innings against the San Diego Padres to help the Dodgers clinch the National League West on Sept. 26.
Andrew Friedman believed in Walker Buehler
Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman believed Buehler was close to a breakthrough before his hip injury. Friedman had faith that Buehler’s competitiveness would help him overcome the struggles on the mound.
Friedman was ultimately correct as Buehler became arguably the Dodgers most important starter in the postseason with nine shutout innings in the NL Championship Series and World Series, in addition to one inning as a reliever in Game 5.
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