Camp Stories: After the grind of rehab, Treinen and Feyereisen are back competing
by Cary Osborne
Dodger relief pitcher J.P. Feyereisen was five days old when the movie ‘Groundhog Day’ was released.
But he knows the plot of the 1993 movie well.
He lived it last year grinding out daily rehab in Arizona in his recovery from shoulder surgery.
“It was like ‘Groundhog Day.’ I just woke up and every day was the same,” Feyereisen said.
In the film, Bill Murray’s character wakes up on Feb. 2 and relives the same day over and over.
That was 2023 for Feyereisen and fellow relief pitcher Blake Treinen.
The veteran pitchers spent much of last season at Camelback Ranch each making their way back from shoulder surgeries. They were part of a pitcher group that included Walker Buehler and Alex Reyes, each with a glimmer of hope that they might be able to impact the club in 2023.
It didn’t happen for each pitcher.
But that has changed for 2024 with Treinen and Feyereisen working toward an Opening Day roster spot and Buehler slated for a later return with his prescribed slower buildup for the regular season.
“My biggest thing is I want to be healthy,” Treinen said. “I sat out for practically two years now, and the organization blessed me, and it doesn’t sit well with me that I haven’t performed to bless them (back for what) they blessed me financially. The biggest reason for me coming back is I want to at least honor my contract and give them what they at least invested in.”
Treinen suffered a partial tear in his right shoulder capsule in the spring of 2022 and went with rehabilitation over surgery, ultimately making a return that September. But his entire season amounted to six relief appearances — five in the regular season and one in the postseason.
Treinen, an electric relief pitcher with one of baseball’s most effective sliders and top fastball velocities out of the bullpen, has appeared in just those six games over the past two seasons. He underwent labrum and rotator cuff surgery in Nov. 2022.
With the difficulties of his recent past, he has also found silver linings.
“Rehab is not fun,” he said. “But when you have good people around you, it makes the experience a lot easier. So all of us having similar shoulder surgeries … it’s nice to have somebody to bounce like, ‘Hey, how are you feeling,’ and encouraging each other as part of the process. It was a lot like Groundhog Day, but it was a blessing because I got to be here with my family and see them more than I ever have since I started playing baseball. Then also getting to know my teammates like J.P. and Alex. I already knew Walker, but just getting to see him in a little different light.”
Reyes, a five-year veteran and 2021 All-Star with the Cardinals, signed with the Dodgers in February 2023, but ended up missing the season after shoulder surgery. He is now a free agent.
The Dodgers acquired Feyereisen in a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays on Dec. 14, 2022, days after he had shoulder surgery. Feyereisen appeared in 22 games with the Rays in 2022 and allowed zero earned runs in 24 1/3 innings.
But he was shut down in June 2022 with shoulder soreness.
The back of his baseball card will always have this number, though — a 0.00 ERA for the 2022 season.
“I had a zero but there are some things in there that were luck. I mean, that’s baseball, right?” Feyereisen said. “I had a teammate rob a homer for me in that stretch. So there’s one I can think of for sure that’s a guaranteed run. You can’t expect perfect, but I mean, you can try, right?”
The right-hander has a career 2.31 ERA in 83 relief appearances over three seasons. He began the 2021 season with the Brewers with 17 straight scoreless games.
That was the point where he understood he could get Major League hitters out consistently. But the shoulder hasn’t cooperated over the years.
Eventually, it led to the surgery and last season’s stay in Arizona.
“Your only passion (during rehab) is basically: This is what I have (to work on). This is what I’m going to do. And you just have to basically check the boxes and get your stuff done otherwise you’re not going to get any better,” Feyereisen said.
Feyereisen was throwing last year and his velocity was back to the 92–93 mph as the season shifted to fall. But making his Dodger debut in late 2023 would have felt rushed.
It was a long shot for Treinen to return at some point in 2023. He entered the season with the hope in his mind that he would pitch for the Dodgers. But he realized at a point that he had to take the long view.
“It’s hard. I honestly I had to kind of remove myself mentally from baseball and get my shoulder right because I didn’t want to push myself so hard to where it was detrimental,” Treinen said. “I guess I had to fall in love with the process of rehab instead of the process of competing.”
Treinen said things started to click in November. The discomfort subsided, and he started to feel like himself again.
Treinen faced Dodger hitters in a live batting practice for the first time on Feb. 15 and threw a scoreless inning on Tuesday in his 2024 Cactus League debut. Feyereisen, has yet to pitch in a game, but has been active throwing live BP and bullpens.
Manager Dave Roberts said during the early days of Spring Training Camp that the goal is for both pitchers to be on the active roster to begin the season.
They’re competing for it.
“This year’s really special, and I really want to get back and prove to people that God’s not done with this story,” Treinen said.
