After opening the 2024 season with a complete starting rotation on the injured list, Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts is ecstatic at the return of Walker Buehler Monday.
“I was really impressed because he was pitching,” Roberts said after watching the pitcher throw in a Dodger Stadium rehab session. “I thought he used his entire pitch mix really well, and the velocity was still there and he was getting outs.”
Buehler, 29, has not pitched in the big leagues since June 10, 2022. Since that date, he had his second Tommy John surgery.
“I’m sure there’s going to be some anxiousness, some nerves that there naturally should be until you get a couple starts under your belt,” Roberts said. “Even Clayton Kershaw is going to have that when he comes back, so if he’s going to have that then sure as heck, Walker is going to have that too, which is normal.”
Buehler has been called up to start against the Miami Marlins at Dodger Stadium Monday. His activation will reduce the population of the Los Angeles injured list, which remains packed with pitchers.
A month into the new season, the walking wounded included Kershaw, Tony Gonsolin, Dustin May, and Emmet Sheehan, all on the 60-day injured list, with the availability of two-way star Shohei Ohtani as a pitcher also restricted in the wake of a winter procedure on his right elbow.
Kershaw (shoulder surgery) and May (two elbow injuries in last three years) might be ready after the All-Star break but Gonsolin is out for the year as he recuperates from Tommy John surgery. Another starter, Bobby Miller, could return later this month if his shoulder inflammation subsides.
The Dodgers have also lost several key relievers to injury. Blake Treinen (bruised lung) should leave the 15-day injured list this week, Roberts said, but Ryan Brasier, Connor Brogdan, Brusdar Graterol, and the appropriately-named Kyle Hurt don’t have set timetables for their return.
Hurt and Graterol, who suffered shoulder injuries, and Sheehan, recuperating from right forearm inflammation, currently reside on the 60-day IL, along with Kershaw and May.
While lesser teams could wilt under the staggering weight of their injured list, the Dodgers seem poised to reach the playoffs again. They entered play Sunday with a comfortable four-and-a-half game lead over the San Diego Padres and remain the only National League West team that has won more than it has lost (22-13).
The off-season signing of star pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto ($325 million over 12 years), coupled with the trade acquisition of current NL strikeout leader Tyler Glasnow, have helped.
They lead a rotation that also includes veteran lefty James Paxton, signed to a one-year, $13 million deal as a free agent, and youngsters Michael Grove and Gavin Stone.
Buehler’s return is likely to shunt one of the kids to the bullpen.
The Dodgers have dominated their division for more than a decade, winning 10 of the last 11 NL West titles, but have not won a World Series in an uninterrupted season since 1988. They fell to Arizona early in the 2023 playoffs after winning 101 games during the regular season.
Hoping money can buy happiness, the team spent a combined billion dollars on just two free agents: Ohtani (10 years for a record $700 million) and Yamamoto.
Considering the deferred dollars in Ohtani’s pact, the Los Angeles payroll of $228,587,269 ranks only eighth in the major leagues, according to Spotrac, and trails the Mets, Phillies, and Braves in the National League.
The Dodgers last won a world championship during the virus-shortened, 60-game season of 2020.
