August 28th, 2016 at 7:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka With so much attention being given to the (hopeful) pending return of Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw and fellow starters Brandon McCarthy and Brett Anderson, it comes as no surprise that the recovery and rehabilitation of another Dodger player has, for the most part, gone completely under the radar of many Dodger fans. That player is 34-year-old veteran Dodgers outfielder Andre Ethier who, to this point, has missed the entire 2016 campaign due to a fractured right tibia suffered when he fouled a ball off his shin during a spring training game on March 18, 2016.
Although it was initially thought that the popular Phoenix, Arizona native would only miss 10 to 14 weeks, that early assessment was later found to be terribly inaccurate, as Ethier’s recovery progressed very slowly. In fact, he did not even begin baseball activities (i.e. – playing catch and light running) until two weeks ago and it was beginning to look as though he would be lost for the season.
Lo and behold and to the surprise of everyone, Ethier showed up at Dodger Stadium this past Wednesday, August 24 – and he was in his Dodgers uniform.
“I’m going to get with Dre, he’s going to take batting practice on the field with his teammates,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told a surprised group of reporters prior to Wednesday’s game against the San Francisco Giants. “I think it’s our understanding that he’s in town just for today and then [he] will be back in a couple days. I’m going to talk to him and we’ll get something more concrete as far as a plan of action. … No when or where. We will know, but right now I don’t know.”
Not only did Ethier step into the on-field batting cage, he absolutely crushed the ball, sending several halfway up the Right Field Pavilion.
Dodgers President and CEO Stan Kasten and manager Dave Roberts look on as Andre Ethier takes on-field batting practice for the first time in five months. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)
And then on Thursday morning it was tweeted out that Ethier would begin a rehab assignment with the team’s Advanced Single-A affiliate Rancho Cucamonga Quakes that evening. This wasn’t just under the radar, this was total stealth mode.
In his first live game action in over five months, Ethier went 2-for-4 as the Quakes designated hitter with a single, a double and two runs scored. Understandably, there was also some signs of rust on the 10-year MLB veteran as he struck out in his final two at-bats on the night.
Ethier singled and doubled in his first rehab game with the Quakes on Thursday night.
(Photo credit – Steve Saenz)
And then on Saturday evening Ethier played in his first game on defense as the Quakes right fielder. And though he went 0-for-3 at the plate with a strikeout and two ground outs to the right side, he also made two catches in right field, one on the dead run. And though we won’t know until (at least) Sunday or Monday exactly how Ethier came through his four innings on Saturday evening, there is every reason to believe that he is far closer to being ready to return to the Dodgers 25-man roster than anyone could have possibly imagined.
With recently acquired left-handed-hitting outfielder Josh Reddick mired in an atrocious career-worst 11 for 78 (.141) offensive slump since joining the team on August 2, Ethier’s pending return can’t happen soon enough.
Posted in 
sooner than you think – I think today..see, the “blah blah you think” is stupid..you don’t know
Wow, heavy stuff there, dude. No wonder you use imitation Ding Dongs as your avatar.
Huh! Did that somehow offend you? Certainly sooner that I think now as I thought he would not return this season at all as it dragged on. I also thought he might not be in the Dodgers plans for 2017.
Without his injury and Puig’s situation, Josh Reddick would not be on board. Josh is a reduced version of Andre. Quite a bit reduced.
This was an auto-generated reply from Twitter, so chances are he never even read the article and angrily (for whatever his reasons) replied only to the title.
But whatever … everyone is entitled to their opinion.
Thanks for the update. I was checking the Quakes gameday quite often Thursday night. His presence will be a huge boost to the team.
It’s wonderful to read that Ethier is playing well and looks on his way back. I think with the injuries to the pitching staff, especially the starting rotation and the pretty good offense over the past few months, Ethier wasn’t as missed as we might have thought he would be.
But it’s great to know he’s on his way back for this current year.
I think he was missed quite a bit OBF. If he had been healthy the Dodgers could have traded for Hill without Reddick and not given up three prospects.
Andre’s career average with RISP is.283. Reddick’s is.241.
If Dre had been in the line-up all season it’s likely they wouldn’t have had an 8 game deficit to make up, maybe this series with the Cubbies is a battle for first seed in the playoffs.
On the other hand, their charge to the lead has been a lot of fun to watch.
What can the Dodgers expect from a player that has basically missed a year of baseball? Kendricks had a bad first month after missing much of spring training.
If Ethier is on the 60 day DL for him to be activated, somebody has to be dropped from the 40. Who would that be?
If De Leon joins the Dodgers in September doesn’t that require dropping someone from the 40?
Ethier’s currently 2 for 3 with a double and an RBI again for RC tonight as a DH.