Bellinger not sure when he’ll return to the lineup
LOS ANGELES » Cody Bellinger is counting the days until he can play again. But he doesn’t know what that number will be.
“I can walk perfectly fine. I can hit without any pain. It’s always noticeable that it’s there, but it’s not pain,” Bellinger said, describing the feeling in his left leg as “definitely uncomfortable” more than two weeks after he suffered a hairline fracture in his left fibula.
“But honestly, every day is getting better. It’s just a slow, slow process. There’s nothing really that I could do to heal the bone faster.”
Bellinger did take batting practice on the field with the team before Thursday’s game. But he has not been cleared to do any running yet.
“It’s more so pain tolerance at this point,” Bellinger said. “I’ve just been in the training room, been working out. I can’t really do much until the bone necessarily heals, which takes — I don’t really know. It depends on each person.
“But once that bone heals up, from what I’ve been told is that you’re ready to go from there. So I’ve been hitting in the cage, and playing catch every day just so I’m staying baseball-ready.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts acknowledged that seeing the 2019 National League MVP on the field for batting practice was a positive sign. But he emphasized Bellinger’s return date is still very much an unknown.
“Now that we kind of understand what the diagnosis is, it’s helped him move forward a little bit,” Roberts said. “Each day,
I’ve heard it’s been better. ... Where that takes us — I don’t want to put a timeline on it.”
Getting to that diagnosis took some time.
Bellinger was injured on a play at first base on April 5 when Oakland A’s reliever Reymin Guduan stepped on his left calf. The original diagnosis was “two cleat contusions.”
“The first MRI didn’t show anything,” Bellinger said. “There was a lot of inflammation in there. The next day after I did it, the next morning was pretty rough. But I got the MRI and it said it’s just bruising and swelling and it’s just pain tolerance from there.
“I progressed pretty good the first few days and then when I started to do some activity there was some sharp pain going on and I’m like, ‘I don’t think that this is just some bruising and swelling. I think there’s something else going on.’ ... I ended up getting a CT scan and it showed a little fracture in it. It made sense to what I was feeling in the jogging and the running and everything.”
The open-ended rehab process is “definitely frustrating” and “honestly extremely boring,” Bellinger said. That was most powerful last weekend during the exciting series between the Padres and Dodgers.
“It sucked. I was actually out there for the first inning or two and that’s when I really realized that I shouldn’t be out here because of COVID,” said Bellinger, referring to health and safety protocols that do not allow injured players to be in the dugout during the game.
“It was a fun atmosphere in San Diego . ... Yeah, I miss it a lot. I can’t wait to get back playing again.”
Arizona-bound
Roberts said infielder Gavin Lux would be heading to Arizona after Thursday’s game to get at-bats in games at the alternate training site there.
Lux will play in Arizona today and Saturday and possibly Sunday before returning to Los Angeles. He is eligible to come off the injured list on Monday and Roberts said that is the expectation “if all goes well.”
Lux has been out of the starting lineup with a right wrist injury. He has continued to do defensive drills but was limited in swinging a bat for a few days after the injury.
Vaccination section
The Dodgers will join the San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants in offering a special seating section for fully-vaccinated fans.
The Dodgers will test the idea in Loge Level sections 116 and 168 for Saturday’s game at Dodger Stadium. Both sections are down the right field line near the foul pole with a total of approximately 500 seats available.
Before entering the section, fans will have to show proof that at least two weeks have passed since they received the final dose of a COVID-19 vaccination. Fans in the section will still be required to wear a mask, but social distancing will not be required.
Children between the ages of 2 and 15 can only enter the section if they can show proof of a negative coronavirus test within the previous 72 hours.
Also
Utility players Chris Taylor and Zach McKinstry were both scratched from Thursday’s starting lineup due to lower back stiffness.