Dodgers News: Daniel Hudson Explains What’s Been Bothering Him All Season
Veteran reliever Daniel Hudson has missed the entire season up to this point. It wasn’t supposed to be that way. Despite a knee injury that ended his season last year and required reconstructive surgery. He came into spring training expecting to be ready for opening day but setback after setback has him hopeful for a mid-June return at best.
Hudson threw off the bullpen mound at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday, getting 30 pitches off and leaving Dave Roberts with tempered excitement. The bullpen session came two weeks after a cortisone injection in his surgically repaired left knee that he hoped would ease the discomfort he’s been feeling after throwing.
“I felt some pretty bad soreness in there and had to shut it down for a little bit,” Hudson told reporters on Tuesday. “And then, as I was coming back, I felt it again, so that’s when we decided to get a little bit aggressive with the injection. There was some inflammation, some tendinitis, in the patellar area that was bugging me. I tried to push through it and couldn’t get over the hump.”
Via LA Times
He still has a decent way to go before returning to a big league mound. In a best case scenario, we’re looking at three or four weeks before he could potentially be activated. Chances are that’ll never feel 100% in that knee again, but as Roberts said, if he can find a nice spot with his pain tolerance, he can still be a weapon for this team in the second half of the season.
For what it’s worth, the right-hander isn’t ready to put a timeline on his return.
“As soon as possible,” he said. “I’m not really going to say I hope to get back by this date or that date. At this point, I’m just trying to get over the hump. … It’s been extremely frustrating, but I’m hoping we’re on the backside of it.”
Noah Syndergaard’s Struggles Continue
For every few great Dodger free agent signings (Freddie Freeman, Max Muncy, Shelby Miller, etc), there’s a Noah Syndergaard. For the right-hander, the disaster season continued on Wednesday with back to back home runs in the second inning of the game against the Nationals.
Heading into the game, Thor found himself on a Dodgers list you’d rather not find yourself on. His ERA over his first 10 starts is the worst in 13 years for LA.
The highest starting-pitcher ERAs for the Dodgers over the past 50 years, minimum 10 starts, reverse chronologically. https://t.co/Fq4F6Hfq7Z pic.twitter.com/BiLGVvMP2l
— Jon Weisman (@jonweisman) May 31, 2023
As the roster gets healthier, the front office will be able to figure out if the Syndergaard experiment still warrants any more research or if they’ve seen enough.