Chad Moriyama Dodgers, Sabermetrics, Scouting
Around this time of year, there will be a ton of extraneous crap meaning absolutely nothing flung around, primarily because there’s little actual substance to write about and people are just so excited about getting baseball back.
The “Best Shape Of My Life” stories are well known, but this “Winter Development Camp” the Los Angeles Dodgers run has been getting a lot of play recently for reasons unknown to me because it reveals absolutely nothing of value.
One thing that did catch my attention recently though is Rubby De La Rosa‘s progress back from Tommy John surgery, as Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times reports.
Rubby De La Rosa pulled up the protective sleeve covering his right elbow, revealing a six-inch scar.
“It’s beautiful, huh?” he said.
De La Rosa, who had a 3.71 earned-run average as a 22-year-old rookie starter last season, said he is confident he will regain the 100-mph fastball he had before he underwent Tommy John surgery in August.
De La Rosa is throwing on flat ground from 60 feet. He said he expects to be throwing bullpen sessions by the end of March and pitch in a game in early July.
De La Rosa said he intends to return as a starter. But pointing to how De La Rosa probably wouldn’t be ready to start in a major league game until September, General Manager Ned Colletti said that if De La Rosa pitches for the Dodgers next season, it would probably be as a reliever.
“Long-range, he’s a starting pitcher, no doubt,” Colletti said.
1) It’s positive that he’ll be back throwing in July and that his progress seems to be on schedule.
2) He sounds upbeat about his recovery.
3) I was honestly worrying about his future role after the injury and I’m glad to know they think of him as a starter.
Perhaps it’s a bit much to read into a simple update, but Rubby De La Rosa is truly one of the few young Dodgers who projects as a potential impact player, so his ability to bounce back from this injury and get back to his old self will be well worth following for the duration of 2012.
“Rubby De La Rosa is truly one of the few young Dodgers who projects as a potential impact player”
You know what’s fun? Clayton Kershaw is only a year older than Rubby. I think what with the 4 years in the Majors and the Cy Young and what not, a lot of Dodgers fans forget just how young the dude is.
I meant more prospects, but yeah.
Even with Kemp, Kershaw and Jansen’s 2011, I think Rubby was my favorite (and unfortunately least favorite) story of the year. Mostly because I expected the seasons we got from the first two, and Kenley we’d already seen some success from as previously. I was hoping Rubby would come in and do well, but didn’t expect him to do step up so quickly. Definitely fun to watch. I hope he comes back full strength ready for the 2013 starting rotation.
Following him from skinny guy in the DSL to hefty guy in MLB was entertaining.
Still hard to believe.
Great news about Rubby. I wonder if they will gradually stretch him out in another league in the off-season after 2012.
That’s what I’m thinking, yes.