Ailing Kershaw unfazed by latest injury: 'I'm not worried about deteriorating'
Clayton Kershaw, the ailing Los Angeles Dodgers ace felled last week by biceps tendonitis, doesn't believe his increasingly frequent trips to the disabled list are at all indicative of deterioration.
"I don't think so," Kershaw told Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports. "I've joked about being old. I don't think it has anything to do with deterioration. I just think there's some things I can do to get better. Physically, I've felt great this whole year."
Since 2015, Kershaw hasn't made it through a season without requiring at least one trip to DL, missing time in each of the previous two campaigns with back problems. Then, during his start against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on Tuesday, Kershaw felt discomfort in his arm, precipitating another DL stint club as well as an examination by noted orthopedist Dr. Neal ElAttrache.
Still, Kershaw rejected the notion that his workload over the past decade is taking its toll, and after receiving "pretty clean" MRI results on his ailing arm, the three-time Cy Young award winner suggested that this current bout of tendonitis might merely be a fluke. (From 2009 through 2015, only three pitchers logged more innings than Kershaw, who crafted 2.30 ERA over that span while averaging 215 innings per season.)
"Back, everything, has felt really good," Kershaw said, "So, I'm not worried about deteriorating. I think I'll be all right. … Maybe it’s just a fluke injury and it won’t ever happen again."
The Dodgers don't have a timetable for Kershaw's return, but manager Dave Roberts said Sunday that the club is "cautiously optimistic" about his prognosis.
Through seven starts in 2018, Kershaw owns a 2.86 ERA and 1.14 WHIP with 48 strikeouts in 44 innings.