Dodgers notes: Walker Buehler, Clayton Kershaw, Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
After having spent the past eight weeks on the injured list, Walker Buehler makes his second return to the mound this season on Wednesday against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Buehler was placed on the injured list back on June 19 due to right hip inflammation, which he says stemmed from being hit by a ball just below his right knee during a live batting practice session in April.
Buehler stated that the hip issue was the main culprit for why his performance through eight starts hasn’t lived up to either his nor the team’s expectations, per Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register.
“It hit me in the peroneal nerve, which people have only heard about in the UFC when guys get kicked,” Buehler said of the nerve that helps the ankle and foot function properly. “I got hit right in that nerve so my foot was not pushing in the way that I wanted to. So then all I could do was spin and rotate and I ended up hurting an external rotator in my hip.
Clayton Kershaw had his best start of the season on Monday against Milwaukee, going 5 2⁄3 innings and limiting the Brewers to just three hits while striking out six. With his start coinciding with the return of Mookie Betts, Kershaw acknowledged that the team is starting to look and play like they should, per Tim Stebbins of MLB.com.
“The lineup is starting to look like it should,” Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw said Monday night, after Mookie Betts returned to play following a near two-month absence for a fractured left hand. “It’s pretty cool.”
There is a positive update on Yoshinobu Yamamoto, with Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Times noting that Yamamoto threw a bullpen session on Tuesday and is scheduled to throw another one on Friday when he rejoins the team in St. Louis.
The Dodgers moved up two spots in The Athletic’s power rankings, shooting up from fifth to third, with Tim Britton listing Shohei Ohtani as the Dodgers’ ideal representative for the 2028 Summer Olympics.
Ohtani is currently the best player in the world, and we’re not going to bet against him still being one of the best players in the world at 34. (He’s proven us wrong enough, already.)
