ARLINGTON — It was a busy day monitoring the Rangers’ injured pitchers.
Dane Dunning and Nathan Eovaldi both threw bullpen sessions, Max Scherzer was more active catching than usual over the past two weeks and there was even a spot for 2022 first-round draft pick Kumar Rocker, who is just days away from the one-year anniversary of elbow repair surgery.
Locker, who had his elbow repaired by Rangers Director of Medical Services Dr. Keith Meister on May 22, 2023, will take the mound for a game Saturday, inching closer to the batters he faces. The Rangers hope to get biomechanical updates on him via the KinaTrax motion capture system installed on the mound for games. Locker has been pitching from the mound for most of the past six weeks. If all goes well, he could start facing hitters this weekend, around June 1st.
“He’s doing very well,” general manager Chris Young said. “There’s really not much more to say. I thought he was very nice when I saw him in late spring, and all the reports we continue to receive have been glowing.”
Meanwhile, Dunning threw 31 pitches in the bullpen and is expected to pitch another session Sunday. This could put him in the starting lineup next week in Philadelphia. The Rangers might use him. There are currently only four starters on the active roster, including Jose Ureña. If the Rangers rest all of their pitchers for four days, they could push the rotation up until next Saturday before bringing in another starter. However, this effectively eliminates the extra rest you get from having two days off in five days. The Rangers were inactive Thursday and will be inactive again Monday.
Typically, Rangers like to “cherish their days off” and use them as extra days off to manage their workload.
Dunning has been on injured reserve since May 5 and could be eligible to return as early as Tuesday. Eovaldi has been on the IL since May 3 and will be eligible to play on Saturday.
There was also a silver lining regarding Scherzer on Friday. He played catch with more effort than he had recently. Scherzer is on the 60-day IL due to nerve issues in his right shoulder. He received Botox injections in his neck and shoulder area earlier this week to calm the muscles that had compressed his nerves.
The news wasn’t so encouraging for left-hander Cody Bradford, who has been out since April 11 with a stress fracture in his 12th rib. Bradford has yet to come off the mound due to continued discomfort in the area. He plans to have another CT scan in about a week to check the progress of his healing.
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