The Los Angeles Dodgers have had inconsistent production from their starting rotation for most of the season, and their two top options in Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto have stepped up in recent weeks.
Walker Buehler has started rehab five times since undergoing his second Tommy John surgery, working to get playing time, results and feel.
Buehler’s recent starts have had mixed results as he required 86 pitches to go over four innings. He allowed 3 earned runs (5 total) on 7 hits.
According to Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts believed there would be positive results from Buehler’s latest rehab bout.
“Things were good. Obviously the results weren’t great,” Roberts said. “But he went into the fifth inning and faced a batter in the fifth inning, which was good. Pitch count up, which was great. To go in to make any kind of evaluation at that altitude is very We all knew it was going to be difficult.”
Buehler’s spin rate has returned to normal and his cutter has improved. However, pitching in Albuquerque, which is known as a launching pad for hitters, can lead to some of the results being taken with a grain of salt.
His pitching numbers seem to be in a place that the organization is happy with, but the key in the end is finding consistent results and ultimately activating him.
Buehler still struggles to find the strike zone consistently, but he’s produced enough swings and misses to be optimistic in Triple-A. The big question mark is his fastball, which is still not back to its old form, but probably not in that area anymore.
Buehler, who is in the final year of his contract with the Dodgers, needs solid starting time to give him any hope that he can take out major league hitters with his current arsenal.
Walker Buehler’s next rehab start
Buehler is still a work in progress and is scheduled to begin rehabbing again at the Oklahoma City Baseball Club on Tuesday. This is expected to be his last appearance as he moves into the Dodgers’ rotation.
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