When Clayton Kershaw landed on the disabled list he acknowledged he’d have little patience. Soon after receiving an epidural injection the three-time Cy Young Award winner was cleared to begin playing catch.
Kershaw advanced to throw a bullpen session at Dodger Stadium prior to the All-Star break, and continued with his workouts while in San Diego for All-Star Game festivities. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said the club was pleasantly surprised by Kershaw’s recovery, which was ahead of schedule.
However, the positivity and progress Kershaw was making came to a grinding halt after he threw a 60-pitch simulated game. Pain returned in his back that’s forced the rehab program to be stopped.
That’s now led to Roberts conceding surgery is more of a possibility for Kershaw, according to Bill Plunkett of the OC Register:
“Yes, to answer your question,” Roberts said when asked before Wednesday’s game in Washington. “I think that with the way it flared up, it’s more of an indication that surgery is more of a possibility obviously with the way the back responded. But we’re still hopeful that he will be back.
“When you’re talking about the back, that is always an option. But we’re certainly hopeful that Clayton will be back, obviously.”
It’s important to note Roberts stated surgery is a possibility, not that Kershaw is expected to have his back operated on. The team nor Kershaw have publicly revealed a timeline for his return, though it was reported that he would miss four to six weeks. Surgery would of course end Kershaw’s 2016 campaign.
He was on track for a fourth Cy Young Award in what was shaping up to be the best season of his career. Kershaw is 11-2 and leads the Majors in ERA (1.79), ERA+ (218), FIP (1.67) WHIP (0.73) and according to Baseball-Reference’s calculations, is first among all pitchers with a 4.7 WAR.
In addition, Kershaw’s 16.1 strikeout to walk ratio is on pace to shatter Phil Hughes’ 11.63 ratio that set a Major League record in 2014.
