LOS ANGELES — Technically, Wednesday’s series finale against the New York Mets is the first day Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts is eligible to return from the injured list. But he won’t be returning any time soon from his oblique strain, taking a more deliberate approach in his rehab.
“He’s moving well. I see him throwing, stretching out a little bit. I’m not sure when he’s going to start swinging the bat,” manager Dave Roberts said Tuesday. “But in talking to him, he doesn’t feel any symptoms.”
Betts injured the oblique during the Dodgers’ game on April 4 in Washington D.C., likely while running the bases in the first inning. On Tuesday, Betts told David Vassegh of Dodger Talk that the oblique strain doesn’t bother him with everyday activities, but he feels it while doing sport-specific exercises.
“It’s not that it hurts. It’s just you feel it and — you don’t want to feel it, because the more that you feel it, that means it’s still healing, and any quick movements from there could just re-injure it,” Betts said. “Then we’re in a much worse spot.”
Betts was on the field at Dodger Stadium before Tuesday’s game, throwing and going through various pregame activities. He’s done rotational work while in the weight room, but hasn’t yet swung a bat.
“I’m able to throw. Running, I feel it, but it’s not that bad. I haven’t started hitting yet, but we’re doing med ball throws,” Betts told Vassegh. “We want to get fully comfortable with throwing the med ball, and not having really any hesitation with that before we start swinging, just because I don’t want to start developing bad habits because I’m scared to swing.”
Because Betts hasn’t yet started swinging a bit, there’s no specific timetable yet for his return, nor when he might start a minor league rehab assignment, if he even plays in the minors at all before returning. Betts didn’t play in any rehab games after missing 11 weeks with a broken hand in 2024, for instance.
“We don’t really know how long he’s going to be out for, but I do know there are sim-game opportunities, and he’s not one who loves going on a rehab assignment,” Roberts said. “So we’ll put a pin in that one.”
Betts missed 15 days on the injured list in 2018 with an oblique injury while with the Boston Red Sox. But now, at age 33 instead of 25, Betts and the Dodgers are taking the older, wiser approach.
“I think the oblique is something that is good until it’s not,” Roberts said. “You want to make sure that you’re really mindful of the process to get back and build up.”
“Things are going great,” Betts told Vassegh. “It’s just an oblique and things are going to take time.”
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