Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw has been on the disabled-list with an upper-back problem, but the 2013 National League Cy Young Award winner made a great stride towards his comeback Sunday when he tossed a simulated game at Dodger Stadium and had no reported discomfort.
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ESPN reports that the Dodgers could be looking into a rehab assignment for their ace, likely in the near-future.
According to ESPN, Kershaw topped out at 90 mph and threw 50 pitches over three innings in the simulated game in addition to his warm-up pitches and said he felt good afterwards.
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"It was full effort for me," Kershaw said via ESPN. "For a 10 a.m. sim game, that's probably all I got."
Sunday was the first time that Kershaw was able to give maximum effort and go full throttle since being sidelined following his Opening Day start in Australia almost a month ago.
The team has been taking a patient approach with the south paw and wouldn't allow him to go full tilt until they were convinced he was ready and wouldn't aggravate the injury any further, even though Kershaw had wanted to go all-out sooner than he was permitted to.
Kershaw was supposed to pitch just two simulated innings, ESPN reported, however after he spoke with the team trainer and physician as well as manager Don Mattingly, he was able to pitch a third simulated inning.
The Dodgers have just one off day in the next 24, but the team has remained cautious when approaching Kershaw's injury and don't want to bring him back until they know he is 100 percent, even if it taxes the rotation and bullpen. Kershaw will likely have a rehab assignment soon, but Mattingly and the Dodgers aren't rushing anything.
"That's an area for [trainer] Stan [Monte] and the doctors to say we need to get this built up to a certain point," Mattingly said per ESPN. "I'm sure they are going to want him to be able to compete, and not go out there and throw four innings."
Los Angeles (12-7) is in first place in the NL West thus far without Kershaw in defense of their NL West Division crown from last season, but would obviously love to have their ace back.
Kershaw went 16-9 with a 1.35 ERA, 0.915 WHIP and 232 strikeouts while earning the Cy Young award in 2013.
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