Clayton Kershaw nearing his Dodgers return: 'If they need me now, I'll be ready'

When Clayton Kershaw bypassed retirement and re-signed with the Dodgers over the winter, his return from an offseason shoulder surgery was initially expected to be a mid-summer bonus.

After the Dodgers had restocked their rotation in the offseason, Kershaw almost felt like a superfluous piece to their pitching plans — a nice addition whenever he came back, but not one absolutely necessary to the team’s World Series aspirations.

By Friday night, however, circumstances had changed.

The Dodgers rotation began the second half of the season in a precarious state. A wave of pitching injuries had eviscerated their starting pitching depth. And suddenly, Kershaw once again looked like a big piece of the puzzle; turning the pace of his recovery into one of the season’s more important subplots.

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That’s why, as the Dodgers resumed play in Los Angeles against the Boston Red Sox on Friday, Kershaw’s minor-league rehab start with triple-A Oklahoma City was of just as much interest to the first-place club.

In what could be his final rehab outing before returning to the major leagues, Kershaw threw four innings against the Round Rock Express at Dell Diamond outside of Austin, checking perhaps the final box of his eight-month recovery from surgery.

“It's a big one,” manager Dave Roberts said in Los Angeles before the game. “If it goes well, there's a real conversation that he can join us for his next turn.”

Kershaw said he accomplished what he wanted to in a three-run, six-hit, two-strikeout performance.

After a two-run first inning aided by some soft contact and a stolen base, the left-hander found a groove. He retired eight batters in a row at one point. He flashed swing-and-miss stuff with his trademark slider. And his fastball touched nearly 92 mph — well above his declining top-end velocity late last season, when he was battling shoulder troubles that eventually led to surgery in November.

In the fourth inning, however, Kershaw’s stuff seemed to regress. He misfired on an 89 mph four-seamer that was deposited onto the left-field berm for a solo home run. By the end of the inning, his velocity was down near 87 mph.

Granted, it was the deepest Kershaw has pitched in a live game yet this season (he made a pair of three-inning rehab starts previously).

And, while Kershaw acknowledged there were “some things I’d like to do better,” he described the overall night as “another good step.”

“I got my pitch count up there a decent amount tonight, so that was good,” Kershaw after after throwing 67 pitches, 49 for strikes. “And I think health-wise, I feel good.”

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So, does Kershaw himself feel ready to return to the majors?

For the most part, he said, yes — though that doesn’t mean he’s outright pushing for it.

“I mean, ultimately, it’s just where the team is at,” Kershaw explained. “Because, obviously, I’m not built up to 100 pitches. So would love to come back whenever they need me, obviously. But don’t want to put the team in a bad spot, especially the way we’ve been grinding through the last few weeks.”

Only, it’s that exact grind that has highlighted the Dodgers’ need for Kershaw even more of late.

While Tyler Glasnow will likely return from the injured list on Wednesday against the San Francisco Giants, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Walker Buehler remained sidelined. Bobby Miller was also en route to Round Rock on Friday to join the Oklahoma City team after his demotion before the All-Star break.

“Obviously, right now we’re in a little bit of dire straits,” Kershaw said of a Dodgers rotation currently featuring four rookies. “We need to hold on a little bit.”

In the coming days, the Dodgers will decide if Kershaw is ready to aid in that effort — if, more than eight months removed from his first career surgery, the future Hall of Famer is in a place to contribute again.

“We’ll talk about it and see what happens,” Kershaw said. “Like I said, if they need me now, I’ll be ready.”

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Though Kershaw has concerns about his ability to pitch deep into games, the Dodgers appear to be leaning toward activating him this week and starting him against the San Francisco Giants on Thursday afternoon.

“I know his words are that he doesn't want to put us in harm's way as far as putting stress on the bullpen, but for him to take the baseball, if he feels good about where he's at physically, we can deal with the fallout, we have coverage,” Roberts said before Saturday game against the Red Sox.

“I just want him and our training staff to feel the same way about it. If that's the case and he feels good about it, then I think that’s the way we'll go.”

Staff writer Mike DiGiovanna contributed to this report.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.