Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw was making incredible strides in his return from his first surgery in his storied MLB career. Days after making his first minor league rehabilitation start, he’s suffered his first setback.
On Monday, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters that Kershaw has been shut down from throwing for at least a week. Roberts said Kershaw has been dealing with soreness since his first rehab start last week, and will now take a break in his progression.
Fortunately, Roberts said Kershaw underwent an MRI on Sunday that revealed no new issues — but the lingering soreness is putting a pause in his throwing progression for now.
Kershaw announced in Nov. 2023 that he underwent surgery to repair the glenohumeral ligaments and capsule in his left throwing shoulder. It was the first surgery of his 16-year career and put his future in MLB in question.
However, Kershaw made it known that he intended to continue playing baseball, and ended up re-signing with the Dodgers right before spring training.
When speaking to reporters at Camelback Ranch back in February, Kershaw said he intended to return sometime in “July-ish, August-ish.” However, he progressed quickly through his rehab program, and made his first appearance in a competitive game Thursday for Single-A Rancho Cucamonga. Kershaw went three innings, allowing one earned run on five hits.
Kershaw was scheduled to make his second rehab start on Tuesday, but will now be sidelined for at least a week before continuing his throwing progression. His next rehab start will likely come sometime in early July, and he’ll need a handful of those before he’s ready to return to the Dodgers. Following his start, Kershaw said he didn’t know when he’d be able to make a return.
“We’ll see,” Kershaw said. “It’s all dependent on the next one. As long as you keep doing well in the next one. You have to see where the team is as well, see what the need is up there, obviously. There’s a lot of ‘X’ factors. Some of them are in my control but some of them aren’t. We’ll just see how the next one goes and go from there.”
While Kershaw remains sidelined, the Dodgers are also without starting pitchers Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Walker Buehler. Yamamoto was placed on the injured list with a strained rotator cuff and will be out for the foreseeable future. Buehler was placed on the injured list with right hip inflammation — but more so just needed a break after struggling in his return from a second Tommy John surgery.
At this rate, Kershaw will almost certainly be out until after the All-Star break, and may need until August to make his return to the big leagues. However, a more concrete timeline will be determined once he’s able to restart his throwing program.
The Dodgers have managed to play good baseball despite their rash of injuries, especially to the pitching staff. They enter Monday’s series opener against the Chicago White Sox at 48-31 and in first place in the NL West.
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