Clayton Kershaw is staying with the Dodgers, however the 10-time All-Star will wait to make his 2024 debut.
MLB insiders Jon Heyman and Joel Sherman broke the information of Kershaw’s return, they usually shared that he will not pitch till the second half of the season after present process shoulder surgical procedure on Nov. 3. On the time of his surgical procedure, Kershaw said he was “hopeful to return.”
Final season, Kershaw went 13-5 and had a 2.46 earned run common in 131.2 innings pitched. In his remaining outing, he solely lasted a 3rd of an inning because the Diamondbacks blasted him for six runs in Sport 1 of the NLDS.
On Saturday, Dodgers common supervisor Brandon Gomes mentioned the group had been in touch with Kershaw when requested about bringing the three-time Cy Younger winner again for a seventeenth season. His return is hardly a shock, but it surely underscores the Dodgers’ raised stakes in 2024.
They gained the offseason by signing two-time AL MVP Shohei Ohtani and prized Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Los Angeles additionally added outfielders Manuel Margot and 2021 All-Star Teoscar Hernandez together with pitchers James Paxton and Tyler Glasnow.
The Dodgers have high quality rotation depth, making Kershaw’s absence for the primary half of the season much less of a priority. Per FanGraphs, pitching prospects Bobby Miller and Emmet Sheehan spherical out Los Angeles’ projected five-man rotation to start out the season that additionally contains Yamamoto, Glasnow and Paxton.
Walker Buehler additionally lurks as an in-season addition. He hasn’t pitched since August 2022 however Gomes described a latest bullpen session as “excellent.”
Per ESPN Bet, the Dodgers (+400) are the favourite to win the World Sequence. They kick off the common season with a two-game series in opposition to the Padres in South Korea on Mar. 20 and 21. Pitchers and catchers report back to spring coaching on Friday.