LOS ANGELES — Technically, Wednesday’s collection finale towards the New York Mets is the primary day Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts is eligible to return from the injured listing. But he gained’t be returning any time soon from his oblique strain, taking a extra deliberate method in his rehab.
“He’s moving well. I see him throwing, stretching out a little bit. I’m not sure when he’s going to start swinging the bat,” supervisor Dave Roberts stated Tuesday. “But in talking to him, he doesn’t feel any symptoms.”
Betts injured the indirect throughout the Dodgers’ sport on April 4 in Washington D.C., seemingly whereas operating the bases within the first inning. On Tuesday, Betts told David Vassegh of Dodger Talk that the indirect pressure doesn’t trouble him with on a regular basis actions, however he feels it whereas doing sport-specific workout routines.
“It’s not that it hurts. It’s just you feel it and — you don’t want to feel it, because the more that you feel it, that means it’s still healing, and any quick movements from there could just re-injure it,” Betts said. “Then we’re in a much worse spot.”
Betts was on the sector at Dodger Stadium earlier than Tuesday’s sport, throwing and going by means of numerous pregame actions. He’s carried out rotational work whereas within the weight room, however hasn’t yet swung a bat.
“I’m able to throw. Running, I feel it, but it’s not that bad. I haven’t started hitting yet, but we’re doing med ball throws,” Betts told Vassegh. “We want to get fully comfortable with throwing the med ball, and not having really any hesitation with that before we start swinging, just because I don’t want to start developing bad habits because I’m scared to swing.”
Because Betts hasn’t yet began swinging a bit, there’s no particular timetable yet for his return, nor when he would possibly begin a minor league rehab task, if he even performs within the minors in any respect earlier than returning. Betts didn’t play in any rehab video games after missing 11 weeks with a broken hand in 2024, for example.
“We don’t really know how long he’s going to be out for, but I do know there are sim-game opportunities, and he’s not one who loves going on a rehab assignment,” Roberts stated. “So we’ll put a pin in that one.”
Betts missed 15 days on the injured listing in 2018 with an indirect harm whereas with the Boston Red Sox. But now, at age 33 as a substitute of 25, Betts and the Dodgers are taking the older, wiser method.
“I think the oblique is something that is good until it’s not,” Roberts stated. “You want to make sure that you’re really mindful of the process to get back and build up.”
“Things are going great,” Betts advised Vassegh. “It’s just an oblique and things are going to take time.”
