LOS ANGELES — Walker Buehler returned to a much different Dodgers’ rotation than the one he fronted in 2022.
That rotation also had Julio Urias and Clayton Kershaw with Tyler Anderson and Tony Gonsolin pitching at All-Star levels.
Two years later, Buehler will have to find his place in a rotation fronted by big-money acquisitions Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto (both off to excellent starts) and featuring veteran James Paxton with emerging young pitchers Bobby Miller, Gavin Stone and Landon Knack pressing for starts.
“Trying to fit into this rotation, especially with the talent that we have – we’ve always had talented rotations, but this is a little bit different,” Buehler said after going four innings in his return from a second Tommy John surgery and flexor tendon repair on Monday night. “Especially with the two guys we have at the front of it, this being their first year here – it’s not as known as it always has been. They’ve both been tremendous.
“Getting Bobby back, getting Kersh back – there’s just a lot of good things that come out of how much talent we have, how close we all are. We kinda push each other. I’m excited for that, and I just want to be a cog in that.
“I don’t think right now I’m gonna be the No. 1 on our team, and that’s fine with me. I’ve been there before, and obviously I’m not there right now. But I would like to push myself closer to that conversation. Whatever I need to do to help us win and to kinda get back to that, I think is what our goals are.”
Buehler’s delayed return to the Dodgers’ starting rotation this season was sold in part as a way to keep his innings down, hopefully saving the best for last – an October postseason run.
But before Buehler’s comeback start on Monday, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Buehler’s regular season has to be about more than just preparing for October.
“I think it’s even more than that. For Walker, he hasn’t pitched consistently for quite some time,” Roberts said. “So it’s about him being good in the regular season. Once we get into October then we’ll figure that out. But for him especially, he needs to pitch well and compete and take down ‘X’ amount of starts.”
Buehler simplified his goal for the rest of the season.
“I just want to win,” he said. “For me, it’s always been being a guy that 25 other guys want to have the ball when we need to win a game.”
REHAB ROUNDUP
Kershaw threw another limited bullpen session Tuesday afternoon – 20 pitches, fastballs only. The three-time Cy Young Award winner will slowly progress from there, increasing the number of pitches and eventually adding breaking balls.
“He feels good,” Roberts said. “Right now, we’re not going on results. We’re going on how he feels and getting better. So when you feel good, your body feels good, then it puts you in a much better mood. So he’s in a good spot. And just the feeling of being free and easy and letting him throw the ball as hard as he can without having pain.”
Jason Heyward took batting practice on the field with the team and ran the bases aggressively as part of the pre-game workout. Heyward joked that he is getting “close … er” to returning from his lower back strain.
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Roberts said Heyward will go to San Diego with the Dodgers this weekend and take some live batting practice there. He will go on a rehab assignment soon – “given how many at-bats he needs, it could be two games, it could be five games,” Roberts said. Heyward has been out since March 30.
Miller threw a bullpen session on Monday and also could go on a rehab assignment soon.
“I don’t know when (the rehab start will be),” Roberts said. “But from everything I’ve seen, it’s coming pretty quickly, which is really encouraging.”
Emmet Sheehan (forearm) is still in the long toss phase of his throwing program and has not thrown off a mound yet.
UP NEXT
Marlins (LHP Ryan Weathers, 2-3, 4.54 ERA) at Dodgers (RHP Gavin Stone, 2-1, 4.06 ERA), Wednesday, 12:10 p.m. PT, SportsNet LA, 570 AM