Steve Webb
Cody Bellinger has finished his rehab assignment with Oklahoma City affiliate and looks to return to the lineup by this weekend, perhaps as early as Saturday. Bellinger, who has been on the IL since being spiked on a play at first base in Oakland, may be seeing his first big league action in nearly two months this weekend.
Spiked in Oakland
The injury occurred toward the end of a game on April 5 in Oakland, in the Dodgers’ second series of the year. In the top of the ninth inning with two outs in a 10-3 blowout of the Athletics, Belli hit a bounding ball to the right side. Smelling a base hit, he busted it down the line, only to collide with A’s reliever Reymin Guduan at the bag. Guduan’s spikes went into Cody’s left leg and he came up limping after the close play.
Bad news from the medical staff
After review, he was declared safe, but had to be lifted for a pinch runner to finish up the game. After the game, testing revealed that Bellinger had sustained a hairline fracture to the left fibula. Though he probably wishes he had just dogged it down the baseline, what was done was done, and Bellinger headed to the IL. It was his first trip to the Injured List since August of 2017.
When the the injury wasn’t healing as the Dodgers had hoped, it appeared that a more extended stay on the IL was necessary to get Bellinger back to health. Finally, in May he started to get back to baseball activity, posting videos of himself running and working out on social media. About a week ago, the 2019 MVP started a rehab assignment in Oklahoma City with the club’s Triple-A affiliate.
Belli down on the farm
He’s only gotten 20 AB’s down on the farm, but he did manage to stroke a couple of long flies while he was rehabbing, which is a good sign. The Dodgers have struggled to get much production out of the outfield this year in his absence, especially power, so a slugging Cody Bellinger will be a welcome thing in Dodgerland.
One final test
Bellinger will face live pitching in Arizona before he joins the club, including a live BP session against flame-throwing righty Brusdar Graterol on Friday. If Bellinger comes out of that feeling fine, then the Dodgers will make their decision. The hope is that Bellinger will be back in the starting lineup on Saturday evening. But, manager Dave Roberts warned that nothing was certain until he heard from his superstar directly. “It’s all contingent on how Cody is feeling,” Roberts said.
Update: Roberts confirms both Bellinger and McKinstry return
Dave Roberts announced at his press conference on Friday afternoon that indeed Cody Bellinger will be the starting center fielder on both Saturday and Sunday of this week. Zach McKinstry will also be making a start on one of those days, being activated this weekend as well.
