Clayton Kershaw didn’t have much trouble, if any, during the rehab process from offseason shoulder surgery and had been deemed ahead of schedule heading into his first rehab start last Wednesday with the Single-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes.
Kershaw threw 36 pitches over three innings for his first appearance in a game since the 2023 National League Division Series. After the start, Kershaw stated he felt good and “checked off lot of boxes” with the outing.
Kershaw’s rapid progression through his rehab had been a pleasant surprise up to this point, and the start seemed like a natural progression of that trend.
However, that progress has suddenly come to a halt due to Kershaw experiencing lingering soreness in his surgically-repaired left shoulder.
Kershaw has been shut down but manager Dave Roberts noted the Dodgers don’t have much concern because an MRI didn’t reveal any new injury, according to Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
According to Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, an MRI revealed “no new incidents” in the shoulder “so that’s why we feel very comfortable and confident that this is just a blip.”
The setback is not ideal, but the MRI result not showing any structural damage is certainly a silver lining. The soreness could be a sign that Kershaw was perhaps pushing his rehab a little too fast, and this precautionary shutdown could just delay his comeback by only one or two weeks.
He was tentatively scheduled to make a rehab start for Triple-A Oklahoma City on Tuesday, which would have been the second of a minimum of three outings while on rehab assignment before potentially rejoining the Dodgers.
Clayton Kershaw timeline
When Kershaw announced he underwent left shoulder surgery, there was an expectation of returning to pitch at some point after the 2024 MLB All-Star Game.
Although Kershaw and the Dodgers have declined to set any sort of timetable, the general expectation was he would join the team in late July or early August.
Even with the setback of sorts, Kershaw likely will be back in the Dodgers rotation by the middle of August.
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