The Los Angeles Dodgers have dealt with many injuries to their pitching staff this season, but things seem to be trending in the right direction now.
The team welcomed back Clayton Kershaw on Thursday and Blake Treinen on Friday. Dustin May also made his third start since returning from Tommy John surgery, while Danny Duffy, Tommy Kahnle and Victor González all continue to progress.
While L.A. lost Brusdar Graterol on Sept. 1 to the 15-day injured list due to right elbow inflammation, they also received encouraging news. Graterol underwent an MRI on Friday prior to the Dodgers’ game against the Padres and the results provided reason for optimism, according to J.P. Hoornstra of the Southern California News Group:
Right-hander Brusdar Graterol (elbow inflammation) said his MRI results came back with “everything good,” revealing only inflammation. He expects to begin a throwing program in the days to come, possibly Sunday or Monday.
With Graterol set to resume throwing soon, he should be an option to return once he’s eligible to be activated on Sept. 15. The Dodgers set his IL stint retroactive to Aug. 31.
He previously spent more than a month on the IL with right shoulder inflammation, beginning July 14 and ending Aug. 22, when he was activated.
Graterol has thrown 44.2 innings this season with a 3.02 ERA, 3.12 FIP, 7.86 strikeouts per nine, 2.01 walks per nine, a 0.94 WHIP and three saves in 41 games.
Dodgers starter Tony Gonsolin cleared to resume throwing
Tony Gonsolin also underwent an MRI and while Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he doesn’t have the specifics of the results, he knows the club was happy with the outcome.
“I do know that it was as good as we could have hoped,” Roberts said. “And so he’s going to resume playing catch today.”
With Gonsolin cleared to resume throwing, that keeps him on track to only miss a brief period of time, and potentially even just the two starts they originally hoped for. “We feel more encouraged by that,” Roberts said.
“So there was nothing that showed up that would take us away from that optimism.”
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