Dodgers Reliever Heads to Double-A For Rehab Assignment

Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Blake Treinen struck out all three batters he faced in a perfect seventh inning for Double-A Tulsa to begin his rehab assignment on Saturday.

Treinen has been out since Aug. 5 with left hip discomfort.

The 2024 season has been quite a journey for the veteran right-hander. When healthy, Treinen has appeared in 34 games this season and has a 5-3 record with a 2.67 earned run average and one save.

Treinen missed nearly two seasons because of shoulder pain, surgery, and rehabilitation. He only appeared in five games back in 2022 while dealing with a capsule tear in his shoulder. He had shoulder surgery that fall to repair his rotator cuff and labrum and spent all of 2023 rehabbing from that procedure.

“God saw me through a lot the last two years,” said Treinen. “I tell my wife all the time you never know how much longer you have or how much you want to be doing it. But I’m thoroughly enjoying this stretch of however much longer I have.”

Treinen’s return to the field this season was delayed until May after he was hit with a line drive during one of the Dodgers’ last spring training games, resulting in cracked ribs and a bruised lung.

“I didn’t want to end injured,” he said. “My wife and I have both prayed since I entered the game that I would get to walk away on my own terms – not from someone telling me I’m not good enough, not from an injury putting me out.”

Treinen said he was confident all along that “I’d come back and play and I’d be just as good if not better than I was.”

The 36-year-old has come back better than before. According to Dodgers assistant pitching coach Connor McGuiness, “he’s actually averaging the best depth on his sinker of his career.”

His velocity might be down a couple of ticks from his prime in 2019-21. Treinen’s sinker averaged 97 mph then and this year it is down to 94.6 mph.

Will he gain velocity? McGuiness won’t bet against him.

“With everything that we had seen with that shoulder injury and whatnot, there were a lot of question marks about whether he could do it,” McGuiness said of Treinen’s return to form. “But if you know the human, it’s no surprise to me that he could do this.”

Photo Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

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