Los Angeles Dodgers' ace Walker Buehler isn't joining his teammates in South Korea as the Dodgers get set to open up the 2024 season with the San Diego Padres.
Nope, instead, he's continuing to work back from a Tommy John surgery that cost him all of 2023 - and his rehab is progressing quite well.
The following comes from the Rotowire fantasy baseball portal:
Buehler (elbow) threw three innings of live batting practice recently and his fastball was up to 97 mph, per the Just Baseball Show podcast.
ANALYSIS
This news was directly from Buehler on the podcast, with the pitcher also stating that he hasn't had much problem with the "up-down" this go around, so it sounds like he is progressing with his throwing program. Buehler wouldn't be able to throw a full season in the majors this year regardless of how ready he is now, so the Dodgers are slow playing him out of the gates. He is expected to open the year on the injured list and he could join the rotation sometime in the first couple months of the season.
It's unknown exactly when Buehler will return to the rotation, but when he does, he'll be a big boost. The Dodgers will use Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, and James Paxton in the rotation, plus some other young pitchers while they wait for Buehler and eventually Clayton Kershaw to return.
The 29-year-old Buehler is a two-time All-Star who helped LA win the 2020 World Series.
The righty is 46-16 lifetime with a 3.02 ERA. He won 16 games back in the 2021 season, the most recent season in which he was fully healthy.
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