On Friday night, June 10, 2022, Los Angeles Dodgers starter Walker Buehler walked off the mound in San Francisco and wouldn’t throw another pitch in the Major Leagues for nearly two years. Monday will end the long rehab nightmare after his second career Tommy John surgery.
Buehler started Monday against the Miami Marlins, who have only nine wins in their first 31 games. He looked rusty as he gave up three runs and six hits. But he had four strikeouts, and his fastball was back in the 97-mph range.
Buehler was Elite After Winning the 2020 World Series
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On that Friday night in 2022, Walker Buehler threw 70 pitches in just four innings and left the game with soreness in his right elbow. One week later, he had bone spurs removed from the elbow, and six weeks later, he had his second Tommy John surgery. The Dodgers hope he can be the pitcher he once was.
His 2021 season put him with baseball’s elite starting pitchers. He was 16-4 with a 2.47 ERA and had just 52 walks in more than 207 innings pitched. He finished fourth in the NL Cy Young voting. Buehler has a 46-16 career record with a 3.02 ERA in 115 games (106 starts) since making his major league debut with the Dodgers in 2017.
“I think he’s going to still be Walker,” Roberts told reporters after the Dodgers’ game Wednesday. “He’s going to be attacking. But I think that there’s an attack with his entire repertoire. I think that in years past, it was a heavy fastball and heavy cutter, whereas I think that Walker now has more weapons. And I think that’s what my hope is, instead of just trying to bully guys.”
Coming Back from 2 Tommy John Surgeries
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Returning to his former form is no guarantee after two Tommy John surgeries. It worked well for Nathan Eovaldi. After his second TJ surgery, he was a key piece of the Boston Red Sox’s World Series title in 2018. It didn’t work for Atlanta Braves prospect Brandon Beachy. He was never the same after his second surgery in less than two years. He never pitched again after his 28th birthday.
“I’ve seen it with a lot of major-league pitchers who are on a rehab assignment – the adrenaline is different.” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said, “I don’t think we’ll have a really good answer until he’s built up and back. But we’ve all seen Walker a lot over the years, and we would absolutely bet on him.”
The Dodgers Injury List is filled with Starting Pitchers
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No one will feel bad for Los Angeles, but right now, the team has six starting pitchers on the injured list. They are Clayton Kershaw, Tony Gonsolin, Dustin May, Emmet Sheehan, Bobby Miller, and Shohei Ohtani. It’s not known right now when any of them will return to the mound. However, the team did sign Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the two biggest free-agent pitchers on the market, after the 2023 season.
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Bradley Tachco is a career journalist. I spent 12+ years at CNN as a writer and producer. My sports: NHL, MLB, NFL. My goal: unique content. My teams are the Buffalo Sabres, Buffalo Bills (yes, I’m a masochist), and the Los Angeles Dodgers. I have been a Dodgers fan since I was old enough to think. I have gone through decades of despair with all three franchises. You can follow Bradley on X @p09691
