This spring has been a lot different than in years past for Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw as he has yet to take the mound in a Cactus League game due to shoulder discomfort that surfaced at the beginning of camp.
After taking around a week off and then having to be shut down a second time for a few days after playing catch, Kershaw finally seems to be trending in the right direction.
He resumed playing catch last Thursday and since then, all of the updates have been positive. That was again the case after he played catch again on Monday.
According to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Kershaw was thrilled by how his arm responded to Monday’s session:
“I didn’t see him throw, but I talked to him when he came off the field and he was pretty excited,” said Roberts. “He was a little bit more than encouraged. He was excited, so that was good thing for us.”
Despite the positive development, Roberts revealed Kershaw’s Opening Day status may be in jeopardy considering how long he has been out and the time it would take to build him up once he is able to get on a mound.
But even if Kershaw is not ready for Opening Day, the fact that he is trending in the right direction and the injury doesn’t seem to be a serious one is definitely positive news.
The Dodgers have capable replacements for Kershaw in Ross Stripling and Julio Urias if he is forced to begin the season on the disabled list. Because of that, the organization will continue to proceed with caution and won’t be hesitant to shut him down again if he has any sort of setback in the coming weeks.
