Yoshinobu Yamamoto growing confident in return to Dodgers’ rotation

Yamamoto has been out for two months with a strained rotator cuff, but he has thrown two bullpen sessions and should face hitters next week.

LOS ANGELES — It has been so long since Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched for the Dodgers, there has been time to wonder if he will pitch again this season.

But almost two months since Yamamoto left his June 15 start with a strained rotator cuff, Yamamoto is growing in confidence that he will be back soon.

“Overall with the rehab program, everything feels good,” the Dodgers right-hander said through his interpreter. “Every time I throw a ’pen, it feels better than last time, which means it’s all getting better.”

Yamamoto – who signed a 12-year, $325 million contract with the team in December – has thrown two bullpen sessions so far. He is expected to throw another this weekend then throw to hitters during the Dodgers’ four-game series in Milwaukee next week. A minor-league injury rehabilitation assignment should not be far off.

“My shoulder is feeling good,” he said Wednesday. “I’m getting closer to the highest volume when I throw and I’m not really concerned with the injury itself.”

Yamamoto is also confident that his stuff will return to the level that allowed him to go 6-2 with a 2.95 ERA in 14 starts before his injury. The data the Dodgers have tracked during his bullpen sessions is “getting closer to where they were and my feeling (for his pitches) is also getting better.”

One start before his injury, Yamamoto threw 13 sliders during seven scoreless innings against the New York Yankees (his best start this season). It was a pitch he had essentially abandoned in Japan but Yamamoto said he doesn’t believe there was any link between bringing that pitch back and his injury.

“It wasn’t one reason. Probably just too much stress and fatigue on my shoulder,” he said.

GOOD NEWS

Reliever Brusdar Graterol was placed on the injured list as expected on Wednesday. But an MRI indicated the strained right hamstring he suffered Tuesday night was not as severe as first feared. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said it was a Grade 1 strain, not a Grade 3 as it seemed when Graterol had to be helped from the mound in the sixth inning Tuesday.

“Obviously we’re going to go through the process of resting it, rehabbing it and we’re just going to go on him, see how we can build him back up,” Roberts said, adding that the Dodgers are “hopeful that he’ll return at some point in time this year.”

Graterol could be seen crying as he left the mound Tuesday. The right-hander was unable to pitch due to a shoulder problem and was making his season debut. Eight pitches into it, he injured his right leg.

“I think early on obviously you could see with his emotion that he probably felt that was going to be the season for him,” Roberts said. “But with what we’ve gathered, the information, there is a sense of relief and some optimism.”

COMING SOON

The Dodgers are off Thursday but a handful of their injured players will be at the stadium to take live at-bats against minor-league pitchers. Mookie Betts, Max Muncy, Tommy Edman and Chris Taylor are all expected to take part.

Betts is expected to continue taking live at-bats through the weekend and then come off the IL during the series in Milwaukee next week. He is not scheduled to go on a rehab assignment.

Muncy and Edman, however, are expected to join Triple-A Oklahoma City and start rehab assignments over the weekend.

“It’s going to be at least a week and then we’ll re-assess,” Roberts said of Muncy, who has been out since May 15 with an oblique strain.

Edman started a rehab assignment before he was traded from the St. Louis Cardinals to the Dodgers, returning from offseason wrist surgery and a sprained ankle suffered during his rehab. But he only played eight games, all as a DH.

“He’s taken at-bats but he hasn’t been out and played defense for quite some time. There’s a part for Tommy, just getting his game legs back,” Roberts said.

“I think for Tommy, he can play anywhere in the middle of the diamond. So it’ll probably be center, potentially some second and potentially some short.”

ROSTER MOVES

Replacing Graterol on the active roster is right-hander Michael Grove, who was activated from the IL on Wednesday. Grove had a 5.06 ERA in 28 appearances for the Dodgers before going on the IL on June 16 with a strained intercostal muscle.

The Dodgers also activated infielder Miguel Rojas from the IL. Rojas was sidelined by a forearm injury. He went 0 for 3 with a walk as a DH in a one-game rehab assignment with Class-A Rancho Cucamonga on Tuesday.

To make room for Rojas on the active roster, outfielder James Outman was sent back to Triple-A.

UP NEXT

The Dodgers are off Thursday

Pirates (TBA) at Dodgers (RHP Jack Flaherty, 8-5, 2.80 ERA), Friday, 7:10 p.m., SportsNet LA, MLB Network, 570 AM