For Buehler, there’s nothing like the real thing
by Cary Osborne
Walker Buehler’s ferocious competitiveness was caged.
Six Minor League rehabilitation starts and none of them could create the energy that he was used to pitching on a Major League mound.
That changes on Monday.
“I think getting the adrenaline of pitching in the big leagues is something that I’ve been looking for for a long time,” Buehler said.
The right-hander will start Monday for the Dodgers for the first time since June 10, 2022, when he exited after four innings in San Francisco. Two months later he underwent his second Tommy John surgery and with it flexor tendon repair.
The road back included a late 2023 season comeback halted last September, a slowed ramp-up to the 2024 season and the six rehab starts. Buehler finally checked off a significant box on Tuesday when he completed five innings for the first time on his Minor League run.
The results showed a pitcher searching for consistency. He had a 4.15 ERA and an uncharacteristic 1.62 WHIP and .296/.357/.455/.812 slash line.
“There’s still things I’m working on,” he said. “I’ve kind of always been a tinkerer and health-wise I feel great now. It’s just kind of getting all the rhythm back, and I think big game, big environment will definitely help me in terms of hopefully a little velocity. But I think more than anything the tempo and the delivery I think just works better when you’re kind of amped up a little bit.”
Expectations are tempered, something understandably afforded to a pitcher who hasn’t thrown a Major League pitch in nearly two years.
Manager Dave Roberts said, from what he’s seen, Buehler’s body and arm are moving better together than before the injury that ended his 2022 season.
Buehler averaged 94 mph with his four-seam and sinker in his Minor League rehab, just one tick of his 2021 and 2022 season averages.
“As far as the throw characteristics and all that stuff, I think he’s in a good spot,” Roberts said. “But you don’t really know until you see him out there against Major League hitters. But I think that velocity will be where it needs to be. We’ll see where the command’s at and the teeth of his secondary. But I think he’s going to go out there and pitch well.”
Roberts said there is no innings pitched mark that the Dodgers have circled for Buehler for this season. Beyond Monday, it’s read and react.
The key is keeping him healthy.
The Dodgers have built in extra rest for every starter this season and only Tyler Glasnow has started on less than five days rest. And he’s only done it once.
Buehler said he anticipates butterflies for the first one back. And that’s a good thing. It means it’s the first real step in being Walker Buehler again.
“I think if I don’t (have butterflies) there’s something wrong with me other than my UCL,” he said. “I think that’s such a big part of being a starting pitcher has been being able to have that kind of ownership of the game. And for me, I think that’s kind of what has always given me the butterflies or whatever is that an entire organization’s success for that day relies on you. That’s probably the thing I miss the most.”
