February 11th, 2024 at 10:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka During a recent interview, 29-year-old Dodgers right-hander Walker Buehler, who hasn’t made a pitch in a Major League game since June 10, 2022, and who has had two Tommy John surgeries since, was asked which of the Dodgers current starting pitchers he would most like to emulate, to which the extremely popular Lexington, KY native and Dodgers first round draft pick in 2015 out of Vanderbilt University answered in true Walker Buehler style.
“I think I try to take the ball any time. I don’t think there’s much question about that.”
Just Walker Buehler being Walker Buehler.
So, when, exactly, might Buehler next “take the ball?”
“There’s still no hard start date. There’s a progression that needs to be in place and is in place,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters on Saturday. “Once he passes all those markers, he’ll be ready to go. I just don’t know when that’s going to be.”
But there’s something else that Dodgers and Buehler fans need to keep in mind, something rather significant – he becomes a free agent at the conclusion of the 2024 season, regardless of how many pitches he makes.
Buehler has also put on a few pounds since he last pitched, as well (205 vs. 185). Something that he joked with reporters about.
“My elbow keeps, man, so I had to put a little weight around it and try to protect it a little bit,” he said with a chuckle.
Just Walker Buehler being Walker Buehler.
The burning question is, of course, will the popular right-hander return to the pre (two-time) TJ-surgery Walker Buehler? The one with a career record of 46-16 and a career ERA of 3.02 over his combined six MLB seasons, 115 appearances (106 starts), and combined 638.1 innings pitched? Will those two surgeries force him to change his delivery moving forward?
“I hope not. I like how I used to pitch,” he answered. “You get to the Big Leagues and have any sort of success; I think it’s hard to change anything. You want to do what got you there or whatever. You get hurt twice the way I have, sometimes you gotta kind of figure something else out. I think the athleticism in my delivery, or whatever you want to call it, has gotten me to where I am. So put on weight and try to keep that, I think, makes a lot of sense.”
Just Walker Buehler being Walker Buehler.
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This article states that he hasn’t pitched since since June 2022, and that he’s had two TJ surgeries since. That’s not accurate. He’s just had the one s
Sorry, user error
This article states that he last pitched in June 2022, and he has had two TJ surgeries since. That’s not accurate. He’s just had the one surgery since he last pitched. He had his first TJ surgery in 2015, just after he was drafted. If he had two TJ Surgeries in the last 16 months we wouldn’t be seeing him this year
We always (try to) make it a point to include a link to a player’s Baseball-Reference page (MLB and MiLB) the first time they are mentioned in our articles; this so that all you have to do is click on their highlighted name to view their BR page, which includes their career game logs.
That said, I do occasionally miss one – but hey, I’m old.