“We would absolutely bet on him” - Dodgers President Andrew Friedman remains optimistic about Walker Buehler despite rehab struggles
Walker Buehler’s rehab assignments haven’t gone as smoothly as anticipated, but Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman remains optimistic.
Buehler only pitched 2.2 innings in his latest start in the minors, walking four, conceding four hits, and allowing two runs. While those aren’t great numbers, Friedman has full confidence in the former All-Star.
Speaking to OC Register’s Bill Plunkett, Friedman said that Buehler is in “a really good spot.”
“Actually watching his start last night, I think his stuff is in a really good spot. I’ve seen it with a lot of major-league pitchers who are on a rehab assignment – the adrenaline is different," Friedman said.
"I don’t think we’ll have a really good answer until he’s built up and back. But we’ve all seen Walker a lot over the years and we would absolutely bet on him.
“Just looking at the box score last night, I assumed the execution was poor. Watching it, it was way better than that and the stuff is in a really good place. Those are the two most important factors that we look at with a guy on rehab and I would say he checked both those boxes," he added.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts confirmed that Walker Buehler will be making another start for Oklahoma City on Wednesday.
It would mark the fifth start of his rehab assignment, which began on March 31. The Dodgers remain confident of having him back soon, which would be a massive boost to their already star-studded rotation featuring the likes of Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
Walker Buehler’s rehab assignments aim at getting him major league-ready
Walker Buehler hasn’t thrown a major league pitch since June 2022. Recovery from Tommy John surgery can be extremely complicated, and Buehler has now undergone the dreaded procedure twice.
The goal of Buehler's rehab assignments is to prepare him for the tough major league schedule and ensure he can handle it. The results aren't the most crucial consideration here.
It is expected that Buehler will be ready for an MLB start soon, but no exact timeline has been provided yet.