Dodgers place faith in pitchers rehabbing from surgeries
GLENDALE, Ariz. — If you’re the Dodgers, you have a pitching staff – and a shadow pitching staff.
Every year, they seem to have a handful of pitchers rehabbing from surgery, often signed to contracts despite their injury in the hopes of them returning at some point in the future – call it the Danny Duffy scholarship.
Duffy was acquired at the trade deadline in 2021 despite having a flexor tendon injury. He was unable to pitch in 2021, underwent flexor repair surgery that fall and re-signed for the 2022 season. The Dodgers paid him $3 million to rehab last season but he never made it back to the big leagues, pitching a total of 6⅔ innings in the Dodgers’ organization on a rehab assignment last season. The Dodgers declined a $7 million option in his contract last fall and Duffy signed a minor-league deal with the Texas Rangers, going to their camp this spring as a non-roster invitee.
This year’s class includes Daniel Hudson (knee surgery) and Jimmy Nelson (multiple surgeries), who might be ready to pitch at the start of the season or shortly after, Alex Reyes (labrum surgery), who is expected to be available at midseason, and Walker Buehler (Tommy John surgery), Blake Treinen (rotator cuff and labrum surgery) and J.P. Feyereisen (same) each with varying odds of pitching before the end of the 2023 season.
Nelson has tenure in this group, having endured a litany of challenges over the past six years – a serious shoulder injury in 2017, back surgery in 2020, Tommy John surgery and flexor tendon repair in 2021 and, just for good measure, a hospital stay this past winter to treat a case of bacterial pneumonia.
“The only other option is you stop. And I’m not stopping,” said the 33-year-old Nelson, who will be on the Dodgers’ payroll for a fourth consecutive season but has thrown a total of 29 innings for them, all in 2021.
“I’ve put in too much work, too much sacrifice. This is the best I’ve felt in six years.”
Nelson has been a “full go” in early workouts, throwing bullpen sessions. But he will have to win a spot in the Dodgers’ bullpen. A spot is waiting for Hudson when he completes his recovery from surgery to repair a torn ACL in his left knee in June. Ankle tendinitis in the fall slowed his rehab, but Hudson is also throwing bullpen sessions in the first week of camp.
“I’m not gonna bet against Daniel,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “For every player, the target is Opening Day. But Opening Day isn’t the season. I’m as hopeful as he is. But that’s not kind of a hard date for us.”
Reyes had his shoulder surgery in May – the latest entry on a medical log nearly as crowded as Nelson’s. He has started a throwing program and could be a dynamic midseason addition to the Dodgers’ bullpen.
“I’m not sure, man,” the 28-year-old Reyes said when asked why he has been injured so often. “Injuries have happened ever since the game started. I’ve just been hit by pretty much all of them. Here now, my mentality is in a pretty good place and I’m excited for this year.”
That enthusiasm has to be tempered for Treinen, Buehler and Feyereisen. None of them has started a throwing program, though Buehler should in the next two weeks.
They all hope to pitch for the Dodgers before the end of the 2023 season. Feyereisen acknowledged the grim reality that he was “probably looking at next year” before getting into major-league games again. Treinen said it would be “a gut punch” if he didn’t pitch this season and Buehler bemoaned the idea of waiting another six months for the start of the 2024 season.
The group of Reyes, Feyereisen, Treinen and Buehler will stay back at Camelback Ranch when the rest of the team breaks camp. Nelson or Hudson could join them based on their progress.
“It’ll be like, ‘All right, we’re in this together,’” Feyereisen said of the camaraderie that grows among rehabbing players.
FULL STRENGTH
After having two surgical procedures on his right wrist and hand, Miguel Rojas has nearly finished rehab and said he has been going through drills without restrictions since reporting to Dodgers camp.
“Everything feels 100 percent,” Rojas said. “I don’t have full range of motion back, but that might be because my wrist is always taped. I’ve been able to do everything.”
That included taking live batting practice during Monday’s first full-squad workout. Rojas had committed to playing for Team Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic if his wrist healed in time. He expects to leave for Miami to join them on March 6.
Before that, Rojas wants to get as many at-bats in Cactus League games or on the minor-league side of camp as possible. The Dodgers’ first Cactus League game is Saturday.
DOUBLE DUTY
Dodgers right-hander Noah Syndergaard threw a bullpen session Tuesday – after throwing one on Monday. It’s unusual for pitchers to throw off a mound on consecutive days like that, but he said it’s a regular part of his routine, one he picked up from conversations with Hall of Famer John Smoltz and former New York Mets teammate Jacob deGrom.
“I just hate throwing off flat ground,” said Syndergaard who acknowledged Monday’s throwing session was a “light” one of only around 10 pitches from the mound. “I think throwing off flat ground and throwing off a mound are completely different – two different animals. I could feel really good throwing on flat ground, then I go to the mound and I’m like Bambi on roller skates.
“If they let me get off the mound every day, I would.”
ALSO
Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman made his first appearance in camp Tuesday. Friedman and vice president of player personnel Galen Carr were part of a group in Japan, where they scouted workouts of the Japanese team preparing for the World Baseball Classic.